The Mina Mongoose Affair
by Ryntaia
Summary: After the events with the Frost family the Hooligans settle back into their old ways, only to be faced with yet another major job: the kidnap and transportation of the internationally famous popstar Mina Mongoose. Team Hooligan fic. Sequel to Pink Diamond, part two of the Hooligan Havoc series.
1. Money in the Hand

**note**

Hey, everyone! Some have shown interest in the further exploits of the Pink Diamond crew, so I've finally set forward into writing the second part of the Hooligan Havoc series. So!

To first time readers: The Mina Mongoose Affair is a sequel to a prior fanfiction of mine, called Pink Diamond, that is still posted on my Ao3 and accounts. While I will try to account to some extent for those who haven't been able to read it, it still is probably best to read Pink Diamond first. This is mostly because Pink Diamond introduces a character who is pretty much fully throughout the Mina Mongoose Affair. Since MMA will very likely have story aspects that connect to the mysteries (purposefully) left unanswered in the first story, please think about reading PD first to get a feel for the situation.

To old readers: It's good to see you again! I'm really happy that people have asked me to further explore The Hooligans, Stella, and this world of Sonic as a whole. Happy readings!

 **note end**

Chapter One

Money in the Hand

If one happened to be a particularly scummy breed of bounty hunter then there was no finer to place to check for employment than the seedy underbelly of Central City. A gleaming metropolis on its surface, there was no denying that crime and barely legal activities had their place there. Cluttered deep in the back corners of this seemingly beautiful city were hives of filthy bars cluttering with creatures ready to do whatever it took for money.

Nack the Weasel was a familiar to almost all of these establishments.

At the moment he was sitting on a stool in front of a bar as the television blared some concert, lazily swishing around the ice cubes in an untouched glass of scotch whisky. He had mostly ordered it for show—Nack didn't allow himself to be drunk in front of potential clients. He had other times where he could be completely shitfaced. Those times weren't when he was preparing himself to try and wring money out of a potential client in a bar so poorly lit that he was having trouble seeing his own hands in front of himself.

Glancing to the side, Nack caught a flash of bright green against pale yellow. Bark stood with Bean upon his shoulder closer to the exit, the light illuminating his fur and stern expression. It was offset only by his hyperactive avian partner bouncing back and forth across the bear's thick shoulders. The mere sight was enough to crack a smile across Nack's face. He inadvertently took a small sip of the glass he had been playing with.

His ear twitched a bit when he saw a flash of white and black darting back and forth behind Bark's left leg.

Before Nack could comment, though, a large hooded beast slammed down aside him. The stool groaned beneath the weight of the man aside him as labored breaths heaved out of him. One furred, clawed finger rose to draw the attention of the bartender as the weasel aside him watched in fascination. Beady black eyes peered at him from underneath the cloak—a capybara. In the back of his mind, Nack briefly recalled that his client was one of them.

"I would like an Arnold Palmer." The capybara said in a hoarse tone. Nack raised an eyebrow—the beast of a man sounded like he hadn't drank a drop of anything in months. The bartender nodded hesitantly, not bothering to question the beast's non-alcoholic choice, and shuffled backwards to prepare the request. The stool squeaked in protest as the capybara shifted to push his face right up against Nack's. A shiver ran down the weasel's spine as the hooded creature sniffed at him. Then, with a satisfied snort, he sat back.

"So you are the mercenary I arranged to meet with." It was a statement, not a question, yet Nack found himself nodded uncertainly as his hand itched for his pistol. The capybara laughed throatily. "No need to be unnerved, my dear weasel friend. I am no less threatening than your average client."

"My average client can range from a wimp to the fuckin' Terminator, buddy, that ain't encouraging." Nack chuckled weakly, and was surprised to find that the capybara joined him. "So you're…Thaddeus, right?"

"Well, my associates tend to call me Thad." The capybara chuckled; Nack only gave a slight grin in return this time. Something about this hooded stranger made the weasel uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what—perhaps it was his perchance to excuse and laugh, perhaps it was his thick and concealing hooded coat. Whatever it was, Nack didn't like it, and he tended to trust that instinct.

…But he had been promised a lot of money for this supposed job.

"So I suppose you would like to know what it is that I want you to do, yes?" Thaddeus said casually, taking a sip from the glass in front of him. Nack raised a skeptical brow at the capybara and was treated to another rough laugh. "A stupid question, I suppose. Perhaps I should trend my ground carefully? You would not have brought your muscle if you hadn't suspected myself of something…foul towards yourself. I must admit, though, I can't see why the presence of the child is needed. Is she yours? There isn't much of a resemblance."

Nack bristled immediately, kicking the stool around to confirm the suspicions he had about the white and black blur peaking back and forth around Bark's legs. For a split second, a pair of bright blue eyes behind a fringe of black styled fur peered at him, then popped back from behind the leg it came from. It was too late, though; the ward of the Hooligans had already made herself apparent. The weasel sharpshooter grit his teeth in agitation. He had told the little girl to stay with the Marvelous Queen. Nack would bet anything that the little fox had sweet talked Bark into bringing her in anyways; the bear was pretty sensitive when it came to children.

"You don't seem like the fathering type, I must admit. Bounty hunting isn't much of a family man profession." Thaddeus mused, drawing Nack's attention back to him. "But who am I to judge? I'm a simple client of a bounty hunter. Perhaps I'm not much of a fathering type either. After all, not many fathering types would be placing a bounty on such a precious and harmless young woman. They'd be thinking of their own little girls and how it would feel to have them taken away. You wouldn't do that to me, would you, weasel?"

"Not a damn chance. She's not my kid anyways." Nack said through grit teeth. Thaddeus cast a glance across the weasel's sudden stiff posture but made no comment on it. "Who's the head?"

The hooded capybara said nothing. He simply gestured a claw to the rinky dink television set precariously arranged above the liquor bottles. Nack narrowed his eyes in confusion—for a moment, the bright colors on the screen didn't connect inside his mind. Then the brightly colored backup dancers fled from the stage on screen as all camera attention focused in on the main presentation. Cream yellow fur, vivid green eyes, and a torrent of purple locks cascading down the performer's back as she fell back into another performance for the world to watch. The weasel stared for a moment.

Then he burst out laughing.

"MINA GODDAMN MONGOOSE?!" Nack didn't even care how many people were staring in the bar; this was too good. "You want me to go get you Mina Mongoose for that paltry ass fee that you gave out? You really think that I'm gonna risk the heavy security on the world's favorite tweeny-bop brat for THAT?! I dealt with no-namers for less dinero than that!"

"Am I to assume that you are not interested in my current price?" Thaddeus said calmly. Nack just cackled in response, taking a swing from the scotch whisky that had been left alone on the counter. "I see. Well, I had figured this might be an issue. I admit, I lowballed the estimation of the price to be safe. It never truly hurts to be safe. I am willing to raise your fee if you're willing to cooperate."

Nack slammed the now empty glass against the counter. "What exactly are you going to be payin' me with, tough guy? Air? I know most of the Richie Riches in this world, and let me tell you, I ain't gonna buy for a second that you're one of them. You couldn't possibly afford what it would take to even get me NEAR the security around that damn woman."

"True, I couldn't afford it on my own. However, I am speaking here on behalf of a large organization with many donators. A good deal of them are extremely wealthy and would like to see our group go as far as possible." Thaddeus explained—his tone was still calm, even with Nack's speculative eyes on him. "If our resources are properly pooled, we can pay you approximately twenty five thousand a week. But we would expect you to have delivered her to us within the next two to the three weeks."

"Twenty five thousand a week….seventy five thousand…" Nack mused, knocking around the ice in his now empty cup as he stared down as the water coating the bottom. "I work in a team of three. It costs more to work in a team. Any supplements for that little issue?"

"I'll add in an extra five thousand for each extra working member. That should come out to about ninety thousand, IF the little girl is working as part of your team." Thaddeus replied casually. Nack didn't respond. The offer was undeniably getting more and more tempting by the moment. He watched the blinding colors on the television screen—the perky personality girl who belted out the pop songs that everyone seemed to be hypnotized by. In the back of his mind the weasel tried to deduce what this 'group' would want with something as harmless as a pop icon. He figured it probably wasn't his business, but still, it seemed suspicious. It seemed like a hostage situation in the making.

As a bounty hunter, contributing to hostage situations could be…complicated. It left the hunter in the middle of an affair they had nothing to do with, and often resulted in being stiffed on the bill. On top of that, having all the blame shifted to the hired hand was always a high possibility—people tended to blame the prick who took the hostage, not the prick who kept the hostage. To top it off, dealing with hostages was a pain in the ass. They struggled, they screamed, they cried, they argued. Dealing with that while dealing with avoiding the law (which would be on high alert for someone like the pop starlet) was one of the most difficult things a bounty hunter could be tasked with doing.

Still…

He clicked the ice around in his glass thoughtfully.

It was a lot of money. It could get them a long ways for a long while. Subduing Mina Mongoose would be a breeze—the girl seemed like the type to blow over at the smallest slight anyways. He had dealt with her security before in an assassination attempt and gotten caught, but he figured that the loser had to be learner sometimes. The only reason he had gotten caught was because of those Freedom Fighter idiots and they were already reportedly busy back in their hidey-hole. They wouldn't have time to monitor Mina. Certainly not without a warning ahead of time.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Just what he needed. Another little girl to babysit. At least the one he currently had was there willingly.

Wordlessly, Nack held out his hand to shake then sharply drew it away when the capybara went to shake. "You gotta ensure, one hundred percent, that I'm gonna be gettin' my money. Can you assure that, Thaddeus?"

"I have no reason to lie to you. We stand to gain too much in this deal. Just bring them to us in Station Square." Thaddeus replied. Nack narrowed his eyes but said nothing; it wasn't his business to ask what the hell they wanted the pop star for. It was just his business to get her from point A to point B and grab his paycheck. Slowly, he slide his hand into the capybara's. He felt a chill run up his spine at the feel of Thaddeus's thin claws racking against the back of his hand but did his best to not make his reaction noticeable. Something told the weasel that the hooded man had noticed anyhow.

When he took his hand away, however, he was pleasantly surprised to find a wad of bills laced between his fingers. The capybara lifted himself to his feet with a groan, waddling towards the door. He took one long and careful glance through the Hooligans standing aside the open corridor—beady black pupils cast across the massive bear, the explosive duck, and the small white fox staring determinedly back at him. Then he gave a hoarse chuckle and disappeared into the fray outside the bar. Nack's crew immediately swarmed up behind him.

"What'd ya get, Snaggletooth, what'd ya get?!" Bean screeched excitedly, rolling right off Bark's arm and onto the bar. The green duck ignored the look of annoyed distaste that the bartender shot at him. Thankfully the man knew better than to toy with any of his clientele—this was not a bar that received a considerable amount of reputable patrons and the bird looked just off his rocker enough to cause mayhem. Still, he couldn't help but cringe when the little fox girl with them climbed straight from the stool to the counter to side alongside Bean.

"Forty hundred now." Nack replied, flipping through the bills in his hand. Bark nodded approvingly. "Twenty five hundred for each week that it takes to fill our assignment. Deadline is three weeks; they won't pay us past then."

"God damn, that's ninety hundred, Shoot-em-up!" Bean exclaimed. Stella nodded enthusiastically. "What's the job? We only heard you yellin' about Mina Mongoose."

"Oh, fer god's sake…" Nack reddened and tucked his eyes under his hat—yelling about some pop star in the middle of a bar could not have possibly made him look good. Not that he really needed to in a place like this, but still. "…the job IS Mina Mongoose. He wants us to kidnap Mina Mongoose."

The weasel was met with glazed expressions in return.

He sighed.

 _This one is gonna be fun, I can tell._


	2. Bikin' It

Chapter Two

Bikin' It

Nack wiped beads of sweat off his forehead as he pushed his bike beneath the high-rise buildings looming above them. He wasn't doing much of the work, with Bark at the back of the vehicle and giving it a (very effortless) push, but it still bit at the weasel's nerves that the Marvelous Queen had ran low on gas. It never ran low on gas. The only time it ran low on gas was when he made the stupid decision to give Bean the responsibility to fill its tank—which was usually when Nack wasn't paying enough attention. And sure enough, here they labored with awkward stares on them, as Bean sat in one of the sidecars and slurped loudly on a bright blue ice pop.

"The least you could've done is MENTION you hadn't filled the goddamn engine." Nack hissed at the duck, dropping the front of his vehicle in fury to fume at his ally. Bean shrugged; threats didn't bother him. Especially from Nack—the bastard had worn out every insult in the book at this point. "Get out of there and help Bark, ya good fer nothin' punk!"

Nothing—not that Nack expected otherwise. Bean continued nonchalantly sitting in the sidecar. He just passed the white fox on the driver seat a purple ice pop. Stella popped open the tab and slide the pop straight into her mouth. Nack had left her on the bike for this little escapade. It wasn't like the kid had enough physical strength to help them push a heavy piece of machinery through a crowded town anyways. Still, he couldn't help but miss the hat that he had thrown to the kid; the sun was starting to get in his eyes.

The weasel swore under his breath. Kids, he hated kids. Yet he had agreed to do a job for one and then ended up taking the little fox into his group. A little voice in the back of his head, probably that 'conscious' bastard he had buried ages ago, reminded him that he had taken the kid on without complaint. Reminded him that despite his bitching, he had felt pretty happy when the brat's family had decided to throw her at him. Reminded him that only a few months ago, he had actively risked his life for the sake of the little brat sitting in his bike sucking on an ice pop. Maybe it wasn't responsible of any party to place Stella Frost in the care of hitmen, but…

…Well, he would be lying if he said he regretted it or any such nonsense.

With nothing else to do as he mindlessly and tirelessly helped drag the Marvelous Queen through the streets of Westopolis, Nack found himself reflecting. Taking care of kids was just as tough and annoying as he expected—still, there were benefits, if the pistol that she was loading with her spare hand was any indication. The kid had been a slow learner at first but she was already showcasing an innate ability with firearms. Some sort of pride swelled in Nack's chest to know that he might be making the next best sharpshooter. He squashed it quickly; the kid knew that she was cared for amongst the Hooligans, but the weasel wasn't about to let the kid bask in it.

Just enough to know. That was all.

That was enough.

Besides, she seemed to know about their target.

"So are we really going to see Miss Mina?" Stella said through the melting ice. Her eyes shone with what could only be called sheer excitement. "Like, really-really? We're really gonna see Miss Mina? Do you think she'll give me her autograph? Maybe I can get her to sign something for me! Like her newest CD, I really want that! Or maybe my gun!"

"Don't screw up a good gun like that. And it ain't your gun anyways." Nack muttered. The little girl didn't seem to be paying attention to his griping; she just seemed to be descending further into the throes of wild fangirling. The weasel couldn't even be surprised anymore—what shock could it be to him that a ten year old girl liked the pop weavings of Mina Mongoose? The so called 'Songoose' had exactly the sort of flavor that appealed to Stella's age group. As far as Nack was concerned it was only by the virtue of the mongoose's natural talent that she managed to get anywhere at all in the music industry.

He sniffed in irritation; maybe the girl's music just wasn't for him. It certain had never been his genre and in an almost impulsively spiteful way, Nack wasn't keen on listening to the music of people who allied themselves with his enemies. And Mina Mongoose had all but declared Sonic and crew to be the true kings of the universe. Her alliance with the Freedom Fighters was infamous—hell, it was her alliance with them that had reportedly encouraged her to pursue her passions. The weasel would know; they wasn't a single goddamn interview with Mina Mongoose where the subject wasn't brought up.

It had been bothering Nack since they had accepted the job. Mina Mongoose was allied with the Freedom Fighters. She was buddy-buddy with Sonic and his stupid friends. Without a doubt, at least one of them was going to be on their heels as soon as they had the songstress under their control. They would have to get a living being that openly disliked them from point A to point B, across the sea…with the group that ALWAYS foiled them biting at their heels.

He groaned loudly. A smoke. He really needed a smoke.

"Nack, what's the matter?" He looked up slightly; Stella was perching herself on the front of the Marvelous Queen watching him with curiosity in her eyes. "You've been really quiet ever since we got into Westopolis. Is something going on?"

"Nah, nothin' much. I'm just thinkin' bout how to deal with the popstar, that's all. That's lesson number one: it's always best to go in with a plan, kiddo." Nack replied absently. It was pretty clear the young fox wasn't buying it, probably because Bark and Bean had been acting slightly off as well. He was sure the both of them had already realized the inevitable. Stella, however, had yet to be with them when they had a run-in with Sonic—this would be her first. She hadn't seen their perpetual failure in the face of the Freedom Fighters.

Nack grimaced. It didn't sound good even in his head.

He couldn't dwell on it, though; they were already in Westopolis. He had to look into it but this was apparently where the Songoose's next concert was. It didn't seem like a major show which he could only say was an advantage. Less people, less security, less trouble. It was even a thankfully small venue. Nack shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked up to the theater as they passed by it; a pair of guards eyed him suspiciously as he pulled the bike by. Bean stuck his tongue out at them.

Their glares didn't matter. Nack was already putting two and two together thanks to Stella's incessant fangirling.

"Miss Mongoose made the hit song Sonic Boom, but MY favorite was definitely Look-a-Like. Her voice is just fan~tab~ulous in it! She doesn't perform it as much but whenever she does its absolutely perfect." Stella gushed, leaning backing into the seat of the airbike. "I heard that she always stays at the Hotel Tropius because she's got a deal worked out with the chain! It's supposed to be a real nice, ritzy place. Have you ever been to the Hotel Tropius, Nack?"

"Nope, but I'm gonna go soon." Nack replied curtly. Stella gasped.

"Are we gonna stay at the Hotel Tropius, Nack?! I've heard it's the glitziest, glamory-est, coolest hotel in all of Mobius! And the Westopolis one has a special reputation too, as being the best one!" Stella sighed dreamily and the weasel rolled his eyes. The kid had been drowning in money back in the Aurora Ice Fields, but her exposure to the real world had quickly revealed itself to amount to little more than what she saw on television and in magazines.

"Nah, we ain't got the money for that kind of fancy joint. Least not right now." Nack snickered. "Maybe after this is all over we'll take a stay in it. Get my feet massaged or something. But hey, I'll give ya this, shortie: we're still GOING to the Hotel Tropius."

"We are?" Stella paused for a moment, and then a grin spread across her face. "Ohhh, an ambush. How mysterious."

"He's bad at ambushes." Bean said casually, swinging his half eaten ice pop around haphazardly; chunks of the soft wet ice smacked both the little fox and large bear in the face. Bark simply wiped it off his brow and continued pushing. Stella slinked forward to try and nab the pop out of the duck's hands, only for him to hop over her head and rest back in the driver's seat of the Marvelous Queen. The fox girl pouted openly but the duck only let out a high-pitched cackle.

"I'm not bad at nothin'." Before either of his cohorts could begin their long lists of what Nack was decidedly bad at, the weasel sharply continued. "Besides, we ain't going IN the hotel. Just in front of the hotel. Then…"

"We make her disappear!" The duck shrieked, pulling out a bomb. Nack sent him a withering look and Bean quickly doused the lit fuse with his fingers.

"Are we gonna make her disappear, Nack?" Stella asked nervously.

"Not like usual. She'll come back as soon as our…funders are finished with her." Nack replied. He somewhat regretted that the girl had so quickly picked up on the common jargon for bounty hunters and hitmen. No kid really wanted to hear that one of their favorite celebrities was 'going to disappear' in the way that Bean had meant. The duck made so much trouble sometimes. "Look on the bright side, shortie, you'll get to meet the world's favorite pop sensation. And if this goes right you'll probably get to, uh, hang out with her for a while."

"Maybe she'll tell me how she comes up with songs!" Stella beamed.

"Doubt it takes that much effort." Nack groused under his breath. Thankfully, the exuberant young girl didn't seem to hear it. With a huff the weasel dropped the front of the Marvelous Queen as they finally managed to push it to a gas station. An attendant rushed hurriedly up to them and Nack slapped a credit card into her waiting hand. "Bark, Bean, Stella. Group in."

Bean and Bark both looked to each other incredulously—Stella may have been their ward, but the child was rarely allowed into a planning discussion. It was just a general measure of security. They were being paid to keep the kid under their ward. Granted, it was a fee that Bean had immediately wasted this month on a diamond that turned out to be fake, but it was a fee none the less. And generally it went unsaid that she wasn't to be directly involved in missions. Sometimes she came up with ideas, and Nack was training her with guns on the side, but she was never up and front on the field.

Until, apparently, now.

The arctic fox clambered excitedly towards the circle, reaching up to wrap her arm around Nack's shoulder—her fingers barely managed to curl around the nape of his neck. Her other arm fared no better at Bark's side, simply nestling awkwardly at the crook of the bear's back. If he thought anything of it, he didn't show it on his face as he loomed over the two and rested a paw on the small fingers by Nack's shoulder. Bean climbed overtop his shoulder and leaned inward with a manic grin on his beak. Their weasel leader withheld a groan. Every day he wondered what he had done to deserve the group that surrounded him.

"Okay, listen up, you pack of idiots." Nack whispered. "Here's the plan."


	3. A Little Trouble In Big Westopolis

Chapter Three

A Little Trouble In Big Westopolis

A large, travel sized van was stuck in traffic. The vehicle was painted in ludicrous greens and black cameo prints, stopping sharp at a printed stick on of the four celebrities that it was carting around. A chicken, pill-like in shape with large sunglasses and a spiked comb. A smirking red rabbit with his arms crossed and drumsticks hanging loosely from his fingers, back to back with a smug looking monkey that held a guitar. And in the stark middle of all three of them, a burst of purple and yellow against the green and black of the van, was their main singer—Mina Mongoose, the songstress who had taken the world by storm with the Forget me Knots band.

The Mina on the outside of the van was certainly more cheerful than the one inside it, at the very least.

She lay limp against the red cushions inside, staring bored at the ceiling as her guitarist plucked out the tune to one of their songs. His instrument certainly wasn't in tune, that was for sure—it has been giving him trouble the entire ride to Westopolis. Mina was pretty sure that either his tuner was broken, or his instrument was in need of repair. Frankly she was hoping it was the former. Max was very picky about his instruments and they didn't need to be stranding themselves for a whole week while the monkey tried to find the 'ideal guitar' again.

At her side sat the drummer rabbit—completely asleep and nearly falling onto her chest. With a slight shrug, Mina shifted him from the cliff edge of falling to the back of her shoulder and sighed. The heat seemed to be getting to all of them except Sharps. While sweat did seem to be speckling the chicken's white feathers, he still seemed as awake and alert as ever. It was the Sharps way to be as sharp as he could, even if that meant sacrificing comfort. He knew his 'coolness' meant a lot to his fans and he wasn't about to sacrifice it.

It was really easy to be tempted in a van without air conditioning on a hot as hell day while stuck in traffic, though…

Mina groaned and let her head fall back again. She loved being a singer, she really did. It let her get out what she needed to get out. But she'd be damned if the last few weeks hadn't worn her out. Every night had been a show, and sometimes each show was in a completely different city. They'd spend hours in traffic, perform, sleep for maybe five hours, and hit the road again. Rinse and repeat. She knew it was needed but boy it was easy to get tired doing it.

Her eyes were sliding closed quickly, painted purple lids falling listlessly over green eyes. She was so tempted to just catch up on some sleep right now. In the back of her mind, she remembered that if she fell asleep then she'd wake up a mess right before the concert and the makeup and styling team would be all over here for an hour, pulling at her face and hair while actively scolding her. But it was a thought that was quickly being buried by the monotony and the heat of the van. Mina couldn't help it—she hadn't gotten a good day's sleep in weeks.

Just as she was about to phase out from the waking world, the van jerked sharply and began to speed forward. All four of the band members groaned in annoyance; Mach bounced off Mina's shoulder in shock, looking around wildly and muttering to himself in confusion. The other two rolled their eyes in exasperation and settled back into their seats, Max's fingers returning to his instrument to practice. Mina sighed and limply rose to her feet to bang her fist against the tinted window in the front of the van. A crackling intercom sprung to life above them.

" _How can I help you, ma'am?_ "

The driver. Of course the driver, she groaned internally. "Can I talk to Ash real quick?"

" _Certainly. Just let me wake him up._ "

The intercom fell out to a buzzing sound, but after a few seconds Mina could clearly hear her manager and ex-boyfriend swearing in irritation at the driver. She couldn't blame him. None of them really wanted to be jolted awake right now. With this heat she wasn't surprised that he had passed out as soon as possible—Mina couldn't say she wouldn't do exactly the same. The intercom crackling again brought her attention away from her own thoughts.

" _What's going on, Mina? Is there a problem back there?_ "

"I'd say there is. We can't skimp on funds anymore! WHY are we skimping on funds anymore?" Mina leaned against the intercom side of the van, sliding down with her arms crossed over her knees. "We need to either get a new van, or get a van with air conditioning and heating. Especially if we're spending so much time inside it! We have the money!"

" _That's a good thought, Mina, and it would be real nice if it wouldn't cut into our gas budget and into our budget to replace the instruments that Max keeps breaking. AND wasting WEEKS of our time getting new ones so we can miss a show and have to refund MILLIONS in tickets._ " Ash replied dryly; Mina burrowed her head in her arms as Max's plucking abruptly cut off. A sheepish smile stretched across his face as he dropped his guitar to the side. " _Stop putting in this request. Its just not top priority right now, Mina. I'm sorry. Really, I am._ "

"I know, I know." She groaned, banging the back of her head against the wall in irritation—her purple hair was sticking to her yellow fur and tangling together. "…Once we make the money back for the concerts…"

" _…I'll think about it. Now let it go for now, okay?_ "

Mina sighed and ran a hand through her sweaty hair as the intercom clicked off. Ash had never been an easy person, not really. It was his defensiveness and controlling attitude that had led to their relationship ending. Such personality traits DID truly make him an effective and precise manager, but in interpersonal relationships, Ash did poorly. He tried his best to be nice, especially to his ex-girlfriend's friends, but eventually his defensiveness had caused a gap between the two.

She was fine with it. It had taken her so many romances to realize it, but she had been too reliant on her loves. Mina had found motivation not in herself but in what might impress and please the men that she loved. Of course, she still looked to make the people around her happy, but by now the singer had realized that she had her own strength and she had to use it. The strengths of others were great but they would never be as motiving as her own personal strengths.

She was just glad Ash could understand and that he could still be her manager and friend. Even if he wasn't too good at being all that friendly.

She smiled wistfully into her hand, resting her cheek in her palm and closing her eyes in contemplative thought. Maybe it wasn't too bad, this crazy life they led…it may have them practically having a stroke in a van. Sometimes she admitted she missed supporting the Freedom Fighters and that cause to work for but Mina lived a happy life, now. She was happy with herself. She believed in her own strength.

…She was sure of that.

...For the most part.

Before she could let her thoughts take a more ugly direction, the entire van shook violently; Mina heard tires screeching loudly. Max hugged his guitar protectively as they all flew to slam against the back doors. Their cased up instruments flew everywhere around the back of the van. Mina cringed when she saw the bass fall out of its case to smash against the metal floor with a sickening crack—she could tell from the sound that it was going to need a replacement. But before she could even react, the van vaulted them forward as the brakes pulled them to a complete stop. Mina's face smashed unceremoniously against the intercom before she slid to the floor with a pained groan.

Slowly she hauled herself to her knees to press the intercom button. "Ash," she coughed, licking a bit of blood off her muzzle. "What the heck was THAT?"

No answer for a moment, then the other side crackled to life.

" _You all okay back there?_ "

"Yeah, we're fine. What HAPPENED, Ash?" She pressed.

" _We almost hit a kid. She just…ran out in front of the van, it isn't even a crosswalk! She just ran right in front of us!_ "

"WHAT?!" Mina cried, jumping up and rushing to the back doors of the van to throw them open and hop out onto the pavement. The fresh air was honestly refreshing against her sweat-laced fur, but she ignored it as she rushed to the front of the now still van. Her bandmates hurried after her.

In front of the hissing grill of the van sat a small white fox child, sunken to her knees with her face buried in her hands. Choked sobs came out of her periodically as she slumped further and further down to the ground. Between her legs sat a red rubber ball, now deflated. Mina crouched down carefully by the little girl, hair falling around them as if a shield from the world. She slid one hand around the little girl's shoulder to attract her attention and gave her a comforting smile when her green eyes met icy blue ones.

"Are you alright, miss?" She said softly. The girl nodded slowly, unable to say anything through her hiccups. Her shoulders were still shaking; hell, her entire body seemed to be laced with shivers. "It's okay. You don't have to cry. I bet you were just trying to get your ball, weren't you?"

The little fox nodded uncertainly.

"That's okay! We can get you a new one." Behind her, Mina heard Ash groan as he got out of the front of the van. She ignored it. "It'll be brand new, and nice and bouncy. Our way of saying sorry for almost hitting you."

"C-can I get you on it?" The girl sniffled. Mina cocked her head to the side and laughed. The child must've been a fan.

"Do you mean my signature?" She asked.

"Nah. We just mean YOU."

Mina froze as she felt a cold barrel up against the side of her sweating brow; in the back of her mind, she realized that the child in her arms had stopped shivering. In fact, all the fear and tears in the fox girl's eyes had disappeared. She now just looked up to Mina with a small smile on her face. One of her gloved hands was drawn in front of her muzzle, her pointer finger extended upwards in a silencing gesture.

Slowly Mina rose to her feet, the barrel of the gun against her head never leaving her head. Looking to the side, she saw that her bandmates were already wrapped up and captured—all of them had been trapped in the sturdy grip of a yellow polar bear. She could hear Ash yelling indigently as he was shoved back into the van; a familiar shrill cackling rang out as the door slammed shut. She knew that laugh, unfortunately, though she had yet to deal with either of HIS meat shields personally.

She turned her head to face the weasel with the gun pointed to the temple of her head. Her light green eyes steeled up into a stare; it didn't seem to threaten the mercenary. If anything, it seemed to amuse him. The cigar latched between his teeth pour smoke out, blowing into her green eyes and crushing her tough exterior—Mina winced and coughed roughly at the bitter smell. The weasel hitman simply laughed. What an ugly sound.

She had run in with this man before. He had tried to kill her. Well, more politely put, he had been HIRED to kill her. So many years before, Nack the Weasel had tried to lodge a bullet in her skull at the request of none other than the man responsible for killing her parents—Dr. Eggman. Not that the weasel probably knew that. Mina wouldn't give him credit for knowing much of anything. After all, his ill borne attempt to cap her hadn't even been successful. He had missed and subsequently gotten himself caught, threatened, and interrogated.

Though it looked like it hadn't mattered in the long run anyways. Here he was, free and roaming, and once again point a gun at her head.

"Been a while, hasn't it, Songoose?" He chuckled. "What'cha been up? Oh, don't tell me. Singing sickly sweet love songs?"

"Oh yes. I just wrote a lovely serenade about the love between my fist and your face." Mina spat through grit teeth. Nack just laughed. He saw through her thinly veiled barbs—the popstar was scared. She had a gun at her head, who wouldn't be? She was just still able to be angry as hell because she had fallen into his trap. "What do you want from me, you sleazy freak?!"

"Ooh, sleazy freak! That's a good one. Points for originality, I usually just get something like bastard or prick." Nack chuckled. He motioned at Bark; the bear stuffed the other band members through the window of the van to squeeze in with Ash. The black haired mongoose squeaked, his hand torn away from his cellphone as it was smashed against the window. Probably calling the cops. Nack paused for a minute to look at the gathering crowd—whether the manager had called them or not, they needed to get out of the area.

"Hey, Miss Mina, don't feel bad!" Mina nearly jumped as small arms wrapped around her middle, the same icy blue eyes that had been filled with tears now looking at her with gleaming admiration. "I've always wanted to meet you! My name is Stella. We're gonna get to hang out with each other for a little while. I think its gonna be really, really fun!"

"Hang out with each other for a little while…?" Mina said uneasily. It was already unsettling that Nack seemed to have a little girl on his team, but her words made her flat out nervous. "What do you mean by that, honey….?"

"Nope, I'm not Honey, I'm Stella!" The girl chirped mindlessly, ignoring Mina's question as Nack whistled loudly. The popstar was nearly knock to her feet as a massive motorbike—the Marvelous Queen, she recognized it, that was Nack's stupid bike—stopped nearly short of her stomach. One feathered arm bolted out to drag her into the cockpit and she was met with the grinning face of Bean the Dynamite. Shivers ran down her spine.

"DAMMIT BEAN, SHE'S NO GOOD DEAD!" Mina heard Nack holler as he climbed in beside them to throw the duck to the sidecar. Bean snickered and scaled up Bark's back, Stella situating herself in the second sidecar. Mina barely had enough time to give the artic fox a wide eyed, incredulous look of shock before she was thrown backwards by the momentum of the bike starting and rushing forward.

The last thing she saw was the sight of her band and manager toppling out of the van screaming and chasing after then. Then, she faded into blackness when Nack slammed the butt of his gun down on the back of her head.


	4. Home, Away From Home

Chapter Four

Home, Away From Home

A single red light, weak and billowing up into the fetid air, illuminated the dirty hotel room. It was close to the weasel's nose—burnt down nearly to a crisp as he shifted against the creaking springs of the bedframe. The nose of his gun tapping rhythmically against his knee as the ashes fell against his leg. He took a quick, sweeping glance across the room—Stella at the window, Bark huddled in a corner, and Bean leaning forward from his perch atop the television.

All staring at the unconscious woman in the bed that he sat on.

Mina Mongoose groaned in her slumber, shifting slightly towards the edge of the bed; Nack's arm shot out to push her back. While there hadn't been any specific instruction other than to deliver Mina to their client, he could only imagine that they didn't want to bring damaged goods. No one paid good money to have a pretty girl kidnapped, only to have said pretty girl showing up looking like she got hit by a six wheeler.

The girl shifted again; green eyes were opening blearily. Nack nodded at Bark and Bean. The bear shifted away from his corner to stand in front of the door, while the dynamo slid over by Stella at the window. The fox girl quickly slammed the potential escape route closed. Her ponytail nearly hit Bean across the face when she turned back to the bed where the young singer lay groaning.

"Wha…where…where am I…?" She mumbled, sitting up to rub her eyes. Nack didn't bother to turn towards the mongoose; he just rubbed out his cigar on the filthy yellow bedsheet. For a second she stared, eyes half lid, at the burn mark below her feet. Then, after taking a shocked look around, she let out an ear piercing shriek. Nack flinched and snapped around to stare at her with wide eyes.

"Whoa, she's loud." Bean commented. Nack looked back and forth desperately, then pounced forward to slap a gloved hand over her mouth. She immediately began gnawing viciously on the leather. The weasel snapped his fingers with a snort and Bean pulled rope out from under the bed to snap between his hands. The purple haired popstar froze.

"Restrain her, for god's sake." Nack groaned, rubbing his temples. He felt a headache coming on. "And DON'T forget the gag. Here I almost thought she'd have the common sense to NOT act like a spaz but hey, no credit where it's due."

"W-wait!" Mina's shriek pierced the air and they all turned to her with suspicion clear on their faces. She covered her mouth slightly as Nack's spare hand drummed impatiently against the gun at his side. "Wait. I mean…wait. Let me…negotiate."

"Negotiate?" Nack said incredulously; the popstar could almost hear the beginning of a laugh in the back of the weasel's throat. He dipped his head in thought for a moment, holding his hat over his eyes, before he finally let it out and threw back his head in a loud cackle. Mina bunched up the blanket atop her, lips pursing in annoyance and ears drooping downwards. As his laughter faded out, the weasel spun around; Mina flinched visibly as he slammed his boot against the frame of the bed and leaned down to her eyelevel. Amusement danced in his eyes as a wicked smile spread across his face to expose his sharp overbite.

"That's cute, popstar. That's real cute. But I don't do negotiation with targets. They have a tendency of backing out of the payment." Nack sneered. "I'd rather sit with the thousands I'm getting just for babysitting your ass from here to Station Square than waste my time on your false pleas. Now, was there anything else you wanted to blubber about before we head over to Spagonia and chart the first ship the hell out of here?"

"Station Square? Babysit?" Mina repeated blankly. "Who…who hired you, anyways? And why me?"

Nack shrugged. "That's for me to know and you to find out when we get to Station Square."

"He never asked!" Bean supplemented from his perch on the windowsill. Nack shot him a fiery glare and the duck just shrugged. "Well, you didn't."

"What a clod." Mina commented, crossing her arms.

"He really is." Bean agreed.

"Sometimes not so good at thinking straight, yeah." Stella said with a wide smile.

"I appreciate the HELP, you two, I really do, but shockingly it is NOT DOING MUCH." Nack said through gritted teeth, pulling his gun out of his holster to aim at Bean's head. The bird just put up his hands by his side defensively and rolled his eyes with a smile. In front of him, Stella tilted her head to the side in confusion. Mina watched in confusion as the three of them banter.

This wasn't the bandits as she had formerly known them. Or at least, it wasn't how she seen them in her mind. She hadn't had any direction interactions since their little gang was formed but she could frontally remember picturing her failed assassin as being, well, more dignified than THIS. Now they were just running around the room like children yelling (well, in Bean's case, laughing)—it was as if the weasel and the duck had forgotten about her entirely. The only one who seemed to remember his post was the serious looking polar bear…although slight twitches of annoyance seemed to be peeking at his right eye. She supposed that she wouldn't be happy either if she were him.

"So you're Ms. Mina!"

"H-huh?!" Mina tore her eyes away from the pair of idiots to look down at the little girl who had crawled onto the bed. Stella now sat crosslegged aside the mongoose. Her eyes shone with what couldn't be mistaken for anything but pure adoration and admiration. Mina recognized this girl—this had been the girl that had stopped the van. So apparently she WAS with these three…

"Ms. Mina, I just have to say that even though we're kidnapping you, that I really enjoy your work." The girl interrupted her thoughts. "My favorite song of yours is Lookalike, I think its just so catchy and touching! I know that you caught some slack from your managers for changing genres for a little while, but your voice is pretty no matter what kind of music you're singing."

"U-uh…thank you, Miss…?"

"M-MY name? It's Stella Frost! I-It's really nice to meet you!" The little girl just seemed happy that Mina had asked her name at all. Mina gazed away from her over to the three assassins—the polar bear was guarding the door sternly, but his eyes were on the the duck that had left his post at the window to argue with Nack. He was currently atop the television making faces at the weasel, who had uncomfortably enough still had his gun out and was tickling the trigger. Mina pulled the blanket closer to her chin.

She tried to stay strong, and rely on herself, but Mina couldn't lie that being right in the middle of the danger sent chills down her spine. In the back of her mind she still felt the urge to freeze up at the sight of the weapon being waved around, at the sheer size of the bear surveying the situation. She had helped in fights before, but…sometimes she panicked. And right now, she could feel panic rising in her throat. Her eyes darted fearfully over to the window.

With a quick hop, she was out of the bed and at the sill; Nack and Bean immediately snapped to attention as she stuck her head out. The night wind tousled her lavender locks around her green eyes; they stung with the force of the wind around her. Blinking the tears out of the way she finally was able to focus…and what she saw practically froze her in her tracks. They had to be on at least the fifth or sixth floor. She could barely even see the people walking around below.

"Real shame. REAL shame." Mina jolted to attention to look over to the weasel resting his elbow on the windowsill. His hand held his head up, his muzzle ripe with a smug grin. "I'm kind of offended, you know. I know we have a reputation, but you couldn't have possibly expected us to not foresee that obvious of an escape attempt. We ARE professionals."

"Y…you…how dare…" Mina stuttered. She could feel that helpless feeling setting in, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. Her legs gave out from underneath her. Nack simply lit up cigarette quietly, blowing a trail of smoke into the dark air as she collapsed against the side of the windowsill. She had tried to control it, this fear of hers, but it was taking over…the uncertainty. The fear. All those childish feelings that she had convinced that she had buried away once she had set into her career.

Apparently not.

"Cut the waterworks. They won't do any good." Nack said, letting the cigarette hang out between his fingers. She looked up, ignoring the little girl that had crawled beside her to pat her arm in an act of mock comfort. "Look, I don't like your type, popstar. Peppy, whiny, bratty, and cue the waterworks as soon as any trouble comes up. And I can imagine you don't like me either. Me or anyone here. I can already list off what you're thinking of us. Dirty, cheap, evil, cruel, rude, the list goes on. But for the next few days, or maybe even weeks, we're gonna have to just deal with it."

"Just deal with it?!" Mina finally spat through her tears. "Just DEAL with it?! You kidnapped me! You laid a trap with this…this innocent little girl as your pawn! And now you just expect me to COOPERATE with you while you drag me across the ocean just so that you can turn me over to some lunatic who could just do who knows WHAT to me?! S-Sonic…!"

"…does not need to know about this but we'll deal with that once it happens." Nack bit his lip. He probably already did know about it. That stupid hedgehog had a bad habit of showing up wherever he wasn't wanted. And Mina Mongoose's support and alliance with the Freedom Fighters was legendary. She even had a few songs about the group. Shameless brainwashing promotion, or at least he'd say that if it wasn't for the fact that everyone loved those self-righteous idiots anyways.

It didn't change that he was being glared at by the pop star, though. He sighed and snuffed out his cigar, crouching down by her so they could see eye to eye. She flinched backwards and pushed past Stella, smashing against the wall. An immediate look of rejection flashed across the child's features; Nack pulled her over by the arm and patted her head reassuringly. He groaned when the child buried her head in his shoulder; Stella wasn't THAT hurt, he knew, she was just trying to distract him. She HAD expressed a clear fondness for the singer, after all…

"…Did you kidnap her too?" Mina asked nervously. Nack didn't reply; he just holstered his gun. With a sigh he swept a hand under the fox's tail and propped her up against him as he stood to take her back to the bed. The mongoose could see the child's eyes drooping. "Hey. Hey, answer me. Did you snatch that poor girl up from her parents? Are you waiting on some ransom for them, you…you…!"

She was surprised to find the barrel of Nack's gun at her forehead again, with his fang bared. "Stella is none of your business. That's our business and our business alone. Do NOT mention her parents again, understand?"

"I…I…o-okay..." Mina stuttered. Nack nodded approvingly and shoved his gun back into its holster, turning back to look at the girl behind them. She hadn't been roused by their hissing argument—the fox had curled up into a ball in the blanket, eyes already fallen shut.

"You joining her or not?"

"W-what?" Mina stuttered. Nack rolled his eyes.

"You joining her or not? You wanna sleep on the bed, or you wanna stay there on the damn floor? I can guarantee it ain't gonna make your back feel good." Nack jutted his thumb towards the bed. "Don't get any funny ideas, popstar. Bark and I will be on staggered shifts to watch over you and make sure you stay riiiiight here with us four, safe and sound. We, uh, can't trust Bean with it. But hey, two out of three ain't too bad...so go to sleep and be sure to know that you ain't goin' anywhere without us for a while now."

Mina mumbled an unintelligible answer but rose listlessly to her feet, stumbling over to collapse by the fox kit. The child hummed in her sleep, curling further up against the new source of warmth. Somehow, even with the attentive red-eyed gaze of the massive polar bear, the slow breathing of the little girl was…comforting. Maybe it was because it was the only thing that wasn't so outwardly threatening in her current company.

Mina gazed over her shoulder. The duck had just picked a random corner and fallen asleep in it, for some reason with his butt in the air and his chin resting on a thin suitcase. He snored loudly through his beak—it was an obnoxious sound. In a nearby sofa chair, beaten by long years of rough use by off-color hotel clientele, sat the weasel. He wasn't paying attention to her. Just leafing through some unknown documents. Mina could only assume it was files for this whole kidnapping affair and the wicked weasel was cleaning up paperwork matters. But every once in a while, his fingers ghosted instinctively over his gun at his side.

Mina stared at the wall, fearful and unsure, as she lay in a dark hotel room with burning red eyes watching her every move. And somehow, she felt just as small as the child at her side.


	5. En Route to Spagonia

Chapter Five

En Route to Spagonia

Mina could not believe herself.

She had woke up this morning afraid and uncertain, and now she was sitting in the sidecar of the Marvelous Queen feeling like an idiot. Mina had never considered that anyone COULD feel ridiculous while being kidnapped but here she was. Sitting right here wearing an oversized flowery pink head kerchief with her hair tied sloppily underneath it. Sitting right here wearing a pair of oversized, white rimmed sunglasses over her entire face. Sitting here with her muzzle wrapped tightly in a green scarf that leaked over her shoulders and covered half her upper torso. Sitting here wearing the ugliest gray muumuu in existence.

Her teeth grit. She would've THOUGHT that professional bounty hunters would have been able to do a little better work than this. If the sheer ugliness of the outfit they had crammed her in didn't draw attention, the massive mop of purple hair crammed underneath a neon pink kerchief would. It wasn't staying under it very well, either; the wind was pulling large chunks of it out from its confinement.

Her uneasiness was being washed out by annoyance. If it wasn't for the bear she had been sitting on top of, she wouldn't feel any fear at all. Muscles ripped through the pudge and yellow fur; the sheer size of the beast alone was enough to keep her from trying to escape. That and the gun that still lay on the hip of the driving weasel. Guns and muscle would dissuade anyone from fleeing.

Still, it wasn't hard to not be annoyed right now. Scared, but annoyed. Especially with the bird climbing over the bear's shoulder to tug playfully at her kerchief.

"Bean, fer god's sake, leave that damn thing alone." The weasel groused. Flicking his heel slightly and tightening his grip, he pulled to the left to turn further into the span of desert before them. Not that Mina had any idea how he knew where to drive—the road had petered out aged ago. All they could see ahead of them was sand, sand, and more sand. A rock sometimes if they were lucky. "We went over this. Popcorn here keeps the mask on because…?"

"Because she needs to stay hidden so we don't end up arrested, beaten up, and penniless." Bean recited robotically, rolling his eyes with a smile. Mina wasn't quite as amused by it all. She slapped Bean's hand away from her head.

"Well, I can tell you this, weasel: it's not going to DETRACT attention." She grumbled. He ignored her, simply twisted the right handle of the Marvelous Queen. The bike revved and they pulled forward faster. Mina was quiet for a moment, staring at the weasel with a knitted brow. "…You know, you won't get away with this. Sonic is going to come for me. I bet he's already on his way."

The bike sputtered for a moment as Nack gripped on the brake tightly; quickly he released it and they settled back into their speed. "He didn't show up to help you at the intersection. We're ahead of him."

"You can't be 'ahead' of the fastest thing alive."

Nack cringed. She wasn't WRONG, per se…

"Shut up." Was all he could manage. She snorted and crossed her arms, scrunching up her nose. The dust in the air was really beginning to irritate her sinuses. Still, Spagonia was ahead…there were people in Spagonia. At this point a city the size of Spagonia was Mina's best chance to get out of this mess. God knew she couldn't go anywhere stuffed in this sidecar with the team muscle…

Her ears perked up when Nack flipped on a song. Peering at it closely she could see it was a very, very outdated mp3 player system that had been crudely shoved underneath the ignition switch. It looked to be at least ten years old. The sound that came out from it was tinny and scratchy as if the machine was on its last leg. She couldn't recognize the song, only catch some of the lyrics that managed to come out clearly through the singer's quick voice and the player's poor quality.

 _"Hey brother, what you thinking? Leave that old record spinning. You feel the rhythm going…they call it lonely digging."_ Nack absentmindedly reached down to crank up the player loud enough to make out the lyrics. _"Hey mama, how you doing? Can't see your body moving. Don't leave the party dying…they call it lonely digging."_

Mina scrunched up her nose. "How tasteless."

"It has a lot more taste than you're probably used to, Popstar."

"What's that supposed to be mean?" She snapped, ignoring the massive paw that wrapped around her arm to keep her from jumping out at the weasel. "Are you trying to say something about my music, huh, crook?"

 _"Baby, can you move it round the rhythm so we can get with 'em, to the ground and get us a rock and roll round?"_ Nack's only reply was to turn his music up louder and revv the bike's engine. Mina glared openly but stayed her place on top of the bear's stomach. _"Hey brother, what you thinking? That good ol' sound is ringing. They don't know what they're missing…they call it lonely digging! Let's end your time to lay low, you're knees a bending so it's time to get up and let go."_

Mina puffed up her cheeks.

"Welllll, my heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talking!" She belted out in song, finally getting the smug weasel to look away from the road and music player. "I came across a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree!"

"Ooh, she's good." Bean commented with a loud whistle. Nack shot the duck a silencing glare. Quickly, he played with the dials of the old music player and turned his song up. "Heh, you're so fun, Snaggletooth."

 _"Baby can you move it round the rhythm so we can get with 'em to the ground and get us a rock and roll sound, just a downtown body coming with a super hottie. Let's go, yes, no, hell no! Baby can you move it round the rhythm cause you know we're livin' in the fast lane—"_

"I felt a little fear upon my back! He said don't look back, just keep on walking!" Mina sang louder over his tunes. It was no challenge with her professional pipes. "When the big black horse said look this way, he said hey lady will you marry me? But I said no, no, no, no—I said no! You're not the one for me!"

 _"Baby can you move it round the rhythm—"_

"Well my heart hit a problem in the early hours so I stopped it dead for a beat or two—"

 _"So we can get with 'em—"_

"But I cut some cord and I shouldn't have done it—"

 _"To the ground and get us a rock and roll sound—"_

"And it won't forgive me after all these years!"

Bark had given up on holding the singer against his stomach; Mina was now holding her body over the side of the compartment to sing as loudly as she could in Nack's ear. The weasel's eye was twitching periodically as her smooth voice drowned out his rotation of music. No amount of twisted dials could overpower the power and pitch of a regularly used voice from a professional singer. Even if the volume was turned up as high as possible.

Not that Nack wasn't going to still keep trying and pretend he couldn't hear the stupid captive. God, it was the feisty ones who were always the biggest pain in the butt when it came to kidnapping…

Bean watched with a snicker at the conflict of wills. Turning to the little girl in the sidecar with him, he jutted his thumb out at the all-out musical war that was being waged besides them. "Its like a jamboree over there. A full blown jamboree of idiots."

"Yeah, but at least we get to hear Ms. Mina sing. I thought since she was so upset that we wouldn't get to hear it all." Stella replied cheerfully. "They're being silly anyways. I like BOTH their songs."

"At least it isn't Nack who's singin' his." Bean muttered.

Stella chuckled at that. All three of the Hooligans knew that their weasel leader liked his swing and country music (and electro versions of such, if need be) but he had a singing voice like a dying cat. The few occasions she had been subjected to him singing along with any given song, it had stuck in the back of her head like nails on a chalkboard. Liking music apparently didn't translate well into MAKING music. She could only thank God that he wasn't trying to show the Songoose up musically—then they'd ALL be suffering right now.

At this point, she could just be happy that Mina Mongoose's little sing-off seemed to be calming the pop stat down…even if it was through yelling songs in the driver's ear. Stella had tried to play nice and pretend that everything was sunshine and flowers for Mina's good. It had been an effort to show her best face to the mongoose and hopefully cheer her up a bit. Although Stella was pretty aware that it hadn't worked, as well as WHY it didn't work. It simply was difficult to be happy in the situation that the mongoose was in.

Watching the weasel and mongoose break out into an argument, Stella mused that maybe a nice stress reliever was what Mina had ACTUALLY needed.

"You're awfully self righteous for an admitted criminal!"

"Bark, will you sit her down and shut her up?! I'm tryin' to drive here!"

The bear tore his gaze away from the desert flashing by. With a groan, he scooped the mongoose away from her furor at the side of the add on and stuffed her on the other side, with his large frame blocking her out from seeing any of the rest of the Hooligans. One hard paw kept a keen grip on her arm, keeping the popstar from jumping out and demonstrating her own speed against the airbike.

Silence overtook them as they drove through the featureless desert, Mina's arms crossed over her chest and pure annoyance painted all over Nack's features as he tightly gripped the handles of the Marvelous Queen. The only sound that rang across the hills of sand was the tinny music ringing out from the ancient music player as it switched to another song. Like the last one, the lyrics were hard to understand through the poor quality speakers—probably stolen or bought from some crapshoot pawn shop. Nack had a fondness for those seedy little joints.

"If ya just sung some GOOD SONGS ya wouldn't be wastin' that voice." He muttered almost inaudibly. Mina lowered her glasses a bit to shoot the weasel an incredulous stare. "Course, you'd never sound as good as Zoey but Christ, what a waste."

"Never sound as good?!" Mina shot up again; Bear placed a hand on the top her head and forcibly shoved her back down into the seat. "That's stupid! Every singer has a voice and tone they're best suited for! Obviously she's better in a genre that I'm not in tune with!"

"Sounds like an excuse to me." Nack snorted. "Real singers, they go outside of their comfort zone instead of making the same tune every time."

"Oh, Nack, stop picking on her already…" Stella groaned, pulling her large ears down against her cheeks. The weasel rolled his eyes but went quiet even as the mongoose glared daggers at him from Bark's side. Ahead of them, the vague outlines of carefully carved stone buildings were appearing on the horizon; the sound of a horn blaring from the road interrupted their reverie as the Marvelous Queen skidded back onto pavement. They were back on the road that they had jumped off of to avoid detection.

As Nack merged into the light traffic going into the ancient city construct of red stone, Mina spoke up again. "I can do it."

"Not right now, I'm tryin' to drive." Nack snapped.

"I can do it. I'll show you." Mina pointedly ignored him and the weasel sighed in irritation. "Before I get away from you and by the way, I WILL…I'll show you. I'll learn your stupid song and I'll perform it ten times better."

"Yeah, yeah, good luck with that." Nack muttered absently, giving the guard at the gate a cautious wave. Both guards were eyeballing them intensely. Mina made to call to them, but Bean darted across the bike to pull her scarf up over her mouth and tie it securely behind her muzzle.

"There ya go, pretty pretty lady! Fixed up your scarf there! Looks real nice, huh, Bark?" Bean leaned back to examine his handiwork—an annoyed mongoose with an ugly scarf tied around her mouth—while Nack eyed the guards suspiciously as they passed into the town. The news about the kidnap must not have reached Spagonia yet, he decided, or they would've jumped down his throat the second he breeched the horizon. It wasn't like the faces of the Hooligans were particularly unknown, nor were their exploits. But Spagonia was difficult to get news to at times.

As he twisted through the tight cobblestone streets of the city, he considered that maybe using a disguise now and then probably wouldn't be a bad idea…while they had got their target, they had made their identities pretty obvious. The Hooligan team as a whole was going to have to keep an eye out. The only one of them who wasn't wholly recognizable was Stella and even that was likely to not be the case after this job.

He regretted that, somehow.

As they took the turn towards the docks, the weasel contemplated how the media would take the fact that a little kid had helped the Hooligans. Would they think she was some street brat that they gave a free meal to in order to put together their heist? Unlikely, considering Stella's expensive jacket and the even more expensive purple dress underneath it. Those Frost foxes really didn't spare any expense—they had sent Nack money, clothes, and even toys for the child. The only other option that he could see the media turning towards was the belief that the Hooligans had kidnapped the girl. Which bothered him a lot less than it probably should have. It wasn't like Stella's uncle was going to tell anyone what was really happening after what the Hooligans had done for the Frost family.

Of course, she could've stayed a media secret if it wasn't for the obvious loudmouth celebrity they had to screw around with right now, but there wasn't really anything he could do to change that.

With a grunt he pulled the bike to a stop in a parking lot near the dock and gestured at Bark to keep the other three back with the Marvelous Queen. He managed to restrain Stella and Mina—not as much so with Bean, who bounced excitedly after their criminal leader. The weasel rolled his eyes and pulled out his gun as shushed the obnoxious duck. Quickly, he peeked around the corner to where they were keeping the boats.

And just as quickly, he slapped himself back against the hard stone of the building they were at. Bean climbed his body and perched on top of the weasel's head to peer around as well, and let out an amused chortle.

That damn hedgehog and his damn pet fox. Sitting at the docks with the dock manager. Laughing it up and waiting right there at the only place they could book or steal a boat to ship out on.


	6. Waveside Tumble

Chapter Six

Waveside Tumble

"Sonic! It's Sonic—" Mina began to cry out but Nack slapped his hand over her mouth and pushed her back into the sidecar. She fumbled up to yell at him, only to have her massive green scarf securely tied around the back of her head by Bark. Only annoyed muffled yells could make it through the thick fabric. Nack ignored her, collapsing into the driver's seat of the Marvelous Queen to stare sullenly forward.

This was a big problem. They hadn't exactly made themselves secretive when they had kidnapped Mina—more the exact opposite. DOZENS had seen them, including the band and manager. No doubt they had already reported that it was the Hooligans who had taken Mina away from her tour schedule. And while the average everyman would not really know what that meant, there was no doubt that Sonic and his little techie plush doll would. They couldn't just get by on Mina's awful muumuu and massive sunglasses to hide themselves.

But this was the only entrance to the docks. Nack leaned forward as casually as he could while Bark tried to keep Mina in the sidecar—she was putting up a surprisingly strong fight. Not enough to combat the bear though…Nack shook his head. That was not the issue right now. The issue was that the simplest way out of Spagonia and off this continent was through the blue blur. Nack knew his luck with Sonic, though, that being entirely not in his favor.

He rested his head against the handlebars with a groan.

"Bean, when we get to a stopping point, remind me that I need to call Thaddeus. Or Bark. Or Stella. I don't care which of you idiots has to remind me. Just make sure I make the damn call." Nack groused as he revved the Marvelous Queen to life. "We're going to have to go around through Empire City and take the land route through Efrika to Station Square. I'm not letting the wannabe hero and his little pet stop me from gettin' this paycheck."

"Mmhfp?!" Was all Mina could manage through the thick layers of scarf. The weasel almost had to chuckle at the pathetic sight—they had given her Bark's scarf as part of the disguise and the tiny mongoose was practically drowning in it. She had already managed to get the ties behind her head undone but she couldn't seem to swim out of the mess of fabric. It seemed to cover her entire upper body, which he supposed the girl should be thankful for, considering the sheer atrocity of a dress they had jammed her into.

Nack pushed his way back into the traffic heading away from the dock forcefully, ignoring the multiple honks as he cut in front of the other drivers. Stella giggled as Bean waved at them as they passed. Bark rolled his eyes watching the two absently. His moment of distraction was their immediate downfall; with a rough pull, Mina yanked the scarf away her mouth and screamed out.

"SOOOOOOONNNIIIICCCCCC! HELPPPPP!"

Nack felt his entire world slow down as his blood froze solid. With wide eyes and shaking hands he looked over his shoulder to see the little mutant tagalong pointing urgently at them as the blue hedgehog nodded. Almost if by instinct, the weasel revved the Marvelous Queen and pulled to the side to cut across the traffic and onto the sidewalk. People yelled indignantly as they fell to the ground. Out of some miracle they avoided hitting any pedestians as the bike swerved through them carelessly likely because they were quick to get out of the way. It didn't matter to him what happened. They were in the way of his beeline to the docks.

"Nack, what are you doing?!" Stella cried out. "You're heading RIGHT TOWARDS THEM!"

"Shut up, kid, you don't know how this bastard works. I'll deal with this." Nack snapped as he shifted gears to speed right past the blur coming at him. Sonic screeched to a halt with wide eyes as the bike sped past Tails, who immediately took flight after them as they bounced along the wooden dock. He was very quickly joined by the hero hedgehog. Nack took a quick glance at the dark blue water that the support beams under them plunged into. It seemed fairly deep, at least, deep enough to be a hazard for those less talented in the art of swimming.

"Nuh-Nuh-Naaaack, t-t-t-they're C-C-CATCHING U-U-UP! RUH-R-REALLY CUH-CUH-CUH….Q-QUICKLY!" Stella screamed, her voice distorted by the bumping surface of the dock. She was panicking and throwing random objects at their pursuers—Nack would've laughed under normal circumstances to see Sonic hit in the arm with a can of corn. Bean was employing the same tactic with much more explosive results. Sonic seemed to dodge every bomb but at the very least they seemed to cut a little bit of his focus off, enough to slow him down every time for a few seconds.

Nack grit his teeth. He needed to wait until exactly the right moment…

"Auuughhh!"

"Huh?!" He snapped to attention as the ear-splitting scream rang through the air—Stella was gone from Bean's side. The bird was look at him with a sheepish expression. Behind them, with her hands desperately grabbing towards them as she fell away from the bike, was the young fox girl. "Bean, I swear to…what the hell did you do, ya goddamn idiot?!"

"Bite me, Tooth, the bumping knocked her out!"

"Aw, fer god's sake! GodDAMMIT!" Nack swore. Behind him, the girl's face was about to come in contact with the dock; she closed her eyes tightly and waited for impact. Instead she was greeted with wind fluttering through her fur. Ice blue eyes snapping open, Stella turned to look upwards at the foot that was firmly held by the hedgehog's sidekick. They were flying after the Hooligans with Sonic at their side…the arctic fox puffed up her cheeks.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She shouted.

"Don't worry, we'll get you to safety, miss! It must've been hard to be kidnapped by them! But there's no need to panic, you'll be safe now." Tails laughed cheerfully, not catching the fuming annoyance in the other fox's tone. "Pretty bold of them to try and kidnap two people at once…it's a lot more than I'd usually expect from them!"

"You said it, bud! They're really shooting for the STARS nowadays, huh?" Sonic quipped; the yellow fox laughed and Stella groaned as she was dragged along. "I almost feel bad wrecking their plans, they just tried so hard! Oh well. Guess that's just in the job description!"

"Put me down!" Stella screamed, flailing her free foot back and forth wildly. Her tail was whipping back and forth to weakly slap both of them—it wasn't very effective. Tails and Sonic gave her an incredulous look. "I said put me DOWN!"

With a swift shot, Stella rammed her foot right into Tails' stomach. The yellow fox yelped loudly and leaned off his course, dangling the girl right above the deep blue ocean aside the dock as he coughed loudly. Stella's ice blue eyes widened as she looked down as the cold expanse below her—the fall alone would be enough to at least knock her out. And that was being generous. Reaching her hand out, she kicked her foot free of his grip then caught Tails' leg to desperately wrap her arms around the spindly limb. A flying enemy was better than death, she had to figure.

"What's wrong with you?!" Tails' gasped out with one hand on his pained stomach; Stella glared up at him from his stomach. The rage that he had previously missed was now on full display.

"You make a lot of assumptions, you know!" She snapped, pointing one finger up his face. The yellow fox balked, falling backwards to shake his leg slightly. Stella's eyes widened slightly and her fingers dug deeper into Tails' leg to keep herself from falling. With a shake of the head, though, she managed to steady herself a bit. "You can't just assume I want to be 'rescued' by you dorks! I'm here for Nack, Bean, and Bark and I ain't been KIDNAPPED at all!"

"Wha…but they…"

Before Tails could reply, the sound of an engine roared underneath them—looking down, the airbike had parked right below the water. Nack stood on the driver's seat with his hands reached out. Stella grinned, stuck her tongue out at the yellow fox with a salute, and then released her iron grip on his leg to fall down below. She landed unceremoniously on top of Bark's chest to bounce off onto Mina; Nack looked over at them blankly then rubbed his temples in annoyance as he flopped back down into the driver's seat. With a loud roar the Marvelous Queen sped off across the ocean alongside Spagonia.

Tails jolted, recovering from the shock to look back to the docks where Sonic was waving to him. He flew back to the hedgehog with a lurching feeling in his stomach—even as he grabbed his friend's hands to haul him into the air, he knew that the Hooligans were already gone with Mina Mongoose in tow. The pair hung in the air staring across the now calm sea, surveying the area for any sign of where they went. The sea rippled only with natural waves now. The only thing on the horizon was the setting sun casting a long shadow across the dock and people gathered to murmur.

They were already gone.

All thanks to some kid and a massive span of intimidating water.

Tails' ears drooped; Sonic squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, man. We'll catch up to them. A buncha crooks like that can't outwit the biggest genius and the fastest blur for long."

The flying fox nodded with an uneasy smile. He still couldn't help but feel a drop in his stomach. His mind was flying with all the questions that had been eating at him from the start; now that they had finally encountered the Hooligans, he was only left with even more. Something just felt very off from the get go—Nack and his boys were usually known for cons, theft, and generally petty crimes. A shooting now and then if the paycheck was enough. But kidnapping had never been high on their lists, never minding the wholly bizarre choice of targets.

And now it was even MORE confusing.

 _Who was that kid? And more importantly, why does she want to hang out with a bunch of criminals?_

Tails knew he didn't need to voice his concern to his best friend; he could see that underneath all that enthusiasm, there were small traces of concern flashing through Sonic's eyes. The blue blur didn't get what was going on either….but the enthusiasm that hid his concern was not fake. He WAS going to find out what was going on here, and they WERE going to get Mina back.

"Well, we aren't getting anything done just hanging around here!" Sonic chimed up cheerfully. "Let's get 'em, ya brainiac!"

Tails smiled weakly and coasted the hedgehog back to shore. Well, it wasn't hard to figure out where they had gone, at least…there was only one place they COULD reasonably go. If they were at the docks then they were trying to get to Soumerca, and if they couldn't go by sea, then the only solution was going by land across the river separating Yurashia from Efrika.

It just happened to be a pretty long river that just barely broke the landmasses apart, that was all…

Tails sighed.

 _Poor Mina…I hope she's okay._


	7. Calling In (Mimosa in Hand)

Chapter Seven

Checking In (Mimosa in Hand)

"Great job, guys, you could've killed your own ward with your little scam." Mina muttered irately. It went mostly ignored. She sat against a large flat rock facing towards the blazing fire. Spans of desert went around them all as far as the eye could see—they were situated in a small patch of rocks and a few sparse trees with the firelight as their only source of light. The sun had set beyond the horizon hours ago.

Nack poked at the fire. "It's a livin', popstar. Bounty hunting ain't quite as easy as being a celebutante, 'fraid to tell you."

"That doesn't give you the right to endanger children." Mina sniffed, ignoring his jab. "What is she doing here, anyways?"

"None of your damn business." Nack replied easily. Stella reached out from her sleeping bag with tired eyes to slap him on the arm lightly. He snagged her arm and dragged her out of the bag; the little girl gave an annoyed moan. Mina raised an eyebrow as the little girl fell onto the weasel. "Mornin' sleepyhead, its about damn time you woke up. How tired can you get when you sleep through the entire ride anyways?"

"Good for my…hair…?" Stella mumbled unintelligibly.

"Yeah, well, your hair is gonna have to wait. We have to call in to your uncle 'cuz thanks to your little idol's bff, I need some help from him. So go get the laptop." Nack replied, picking the little girl off his lap. Stella stumbled over to the motorcycle sidecar to push the sleeping Bean aside; he toppled off the side but didn't seem to wake at all. From the other sidecar, Bark sighed and scooped the duck up to rest the sleeping dynamo at his side. While he did so, Stella shuffled through the now-empty sidecar and pulled out an outdated laptop and booted it up.

Mina watched in confusion as she huddled next to the weasel with a cheerful smile on her young face. Nack swiped it and booted it up, pulling up a program with a loading box. For a few minutes, it was empty, but a small dinging sound confirmed that it had gone through. Immediately a video feed popped up.

" _…I think….is this the right one? Did I get it? Stella?_ "

"Uncle Erik! How are you?" Stella cried happily, launching forward at the screen. Nack placed a hand on her forehead and pulled her back; to Mina, it seemed like an almost practiced motion. Carefully, nonchalantly, she scooted close enough to see the screen—a middle-aged red fox with blonde locks curving around his brown eyes and carefully trimmed ears. He wore a fine, expensive looking black suit with a kerchief in the left pocket and a half empty glass of wine balanced between his fingers. Most surprising to Mina, however, was the look of comfortable affection he wore on his face.

" _Stella, love, how have you been? Has the weasel taken good care of you? One should hope so, as his next stipend for his work should be coming through in a week._ " The man laughed jovially as Nack's face drooped. " _Cheer up, my friend. I'm just joking._ "

"Yeah, yeah, joke a little less. I'm not in the mood." Nack muttered. The fox on screen tilted his head to the side curiously. "We're on assignment right now. It's been a pain in the ass."

To all of their surprise, Erik laughed jovially.

" _Yes, I saw it on the news. You kidnapped that international pop star girl, Millie Meerkat or something._ " Erik chuckled.

"It's MINA. Mina Mongoose." The popstar piped up lividly.

" _Ah, there she is! It's nice to meet you, Missy. I'm sorry to say I'm not too familiar with you and your music, only your reputation._ " Erik laughed again; Mina would've wondered if the man was tipsy if his laugh wasn't followed by a stern expression. " _You've kept a very poor low profile lately, I have to say. This assignment of yours is all over television. Including my niece's face._ "

"Wouldn't know, I don't watch much television. Kiddo here doesn't watch much anymore either." Nack replied absently. On the laptop screen, Erik shook his head.

" _They say birds of a feather flock together, Nack, and the fact that Stella is your ward only proves it. You both are very bad at lying._ " The sophisticated man commented. " _What's going on? Are you all having trouble with this little assignment of yours? What IS it, anyways?_ "

"It's nothing serious, we just had a few slip ups in a regular job." Nack grumbled; the copper fox waited patiently, staring intently at both the weasel and his niece. "…Okay, okay, fine. Jesus. We screwed up a few times on an unusual job from a freak client with one hell of a payoff. Happy now?"

" _A man of the truth will always find the truth._ " Erik replied smugly; based on the expression on both Stella and Nack's faces, Mina had a feeling that history had proven the copper fox wrong and they were just holding back. She huffed. They might hold back, but SHE wouldn't. She wanted some answers and she wanted them right now.

"Excuse me, sir…" Mina interrupted, pushing Nack's head to the side and ignoring his indignant snort.

" _Call me Erik, Miss Minnie. Or Mr. Fairfield, if you really insist on formalities. But I'm no sir. I like to think I haven't quite reached that far in my years._ " Mina couldn't help but be thrown off by the man's careless nature. This was not what she had been expecting from Stella's relatives…at least not in the presence of one of the Hooligans. " _Did you have a question for me?_ "

"Ah! Yes, I uh, I did." Mina snapped to attention. "Sir, my name is Mina and I'm the current VICTIM of these idiotic jerks. Why is your niece travelling with them?! You don't even seem to mind."

Erik chuckled and raised his glass.

" _Idiotic and jerkish as they may be, the Hooligans have done the Frost family a great favor in the past. And it was all for the good of our dearest heiress._ " Mina shot a disbelieving look towards Nack and Stella. " _Ha ha, well, you don't have to believe me if you don't want to. I'd imagine it's a difficult story to buy."_

"Just a little bit." Mina grumbled.

"Erik, can we perhaps push Popcorn's bitching and moaning aside for a second? I actually called for a reason." Nack interrupted. "See, our little assignment got a little off track thanks to some interference from the Freedom Fighters on the Spagonia docks."

" _Yes, I heard about it on the news a few hours ago._ "

"Heard about it on the...Jesus, they'll report anything about this stupid case, won't they." Nack groaned. Erik laughed again, taking a careless sip from the wine glass between his fingers. "Look, Erik, long story short: I need a forward on that stipend. That little screw up in Spagonia means we're gonna have to take the long way and I ain't got enough gas money to get us through Efrika."

" _Well, that's a shame, Nack, but I can't do that._ " Erik replied. Nack's eyes narrowed. " _Sorry, my friend, I just can't. I group your stipends into a bill I pay every few months in order to avoid attention being drawn to it by my bankers. If I just threw it at you before that, they'd get wise to it and try to write me up on some trumped up bank fraud fees. Or, y'know, they find out I'm employing criminals, whichever sounds worse to you. It just can't be done._ "

"I'm sure you can spare something without them noticing." Nack hissed at the screen. He ignored as Stella gestured a cut mark across her throat, shaking her head dismissively.

" _I really can't. What's the big deal about this assignment anyways? You've messed up plenty of others, I think your record is already too charred for anyone to care if you have another bad mark._ " Erik shrugged. " _Is the payoff REALLY that big?_ "

"It's close to a hundred thousand if we don't screw it up." Nack said through grit teeth. That seemed to draw Erik's (slightly drunken) attention.

"A _round one hundred thousand? That's a lot for just a standard kidnapping deal._ "

"I'm kidnapping an international popstar."

" _Even then. This guy must really want to have Rina around._ "

"I don't know what the guy wants, I didn't ask him the specifics. He's just some fatass capybara named Thaddeus." Nack commented; his brow quirked when Erik seemed to freeze, his thumb and forefinger tightening visibly on his wine glass. "Somethin' wrong there, rich boy? You know this bastard?"

" _…Are you SURE it was a capybara named Thaddeus? How was he dressed? What were his manners?_ " Erik asked hesitantly. He had begun to tug at the tufts of his muzzle—a habit of nervousness that the copper fox had displayed now and then, but rarely when tipsy.

"Big ol' guy, dressed in a big black cloak. Nice enough guy, I guess, always talked really formally and politely. Still was one creepy sonvabitch, though. He had some trouble breathin', though, so who knows, maybe he's just got asthma or something." Nack eyed the fox inspectly; Erik Fairfield seemed to be freezing up more and more with every word. "So DO you know this bastard? Yer acting awfully scared a' some guy you ain't even met."

" _Stay AWAY from Thaddeus Corentine, that's what I can say to you._ " Erik was rubbing his temples on the screen. " _The Frost family used to be very familiar with him—he's a leader of a pretty obscure and under the table cult. The Frost family were subscribing members up until Stella's mother formally decided that we would cut them off from our…generous donations. It was one of her first decisions as the heir to the fortune. Vanessa complained about it every now and then but didn't go into too much detail._ "

"Vanessa? Why would Aunt Vanessa care?" Stella asked, forehead knotted in confusion. It was obvious to the two beside her that this was the first she was hearing of this. "Uncle Erik, what's going on?"

" _Oh, princess…it was the original cause of divide between Vanessa and the chosen heir. Her sister. I don't know how many centuries that this cult has been fueled on Frost donations, but it was definitely a long time._ " Erik sighed, shaking his head. " _I wasn't there when it all went down but apparently between the two heirs, Vanessa was the one who wanted to keep the donations going. It was your mother, Genevieve, who shut down the money flow to a cause that her sister was rather devoted to._ "

"Aunt Vanessa was part of a CULT?" Stella gasped.

"News to me, too." Nack admitted. "I didn't do too much diggin' on her after we got her thrown in jail, though."

"Well, wait a minute now." Mina interrupted. Sweat was formulating at her brow. "Do you know what this so called cult was about? Why the heck would they want me? I'm not a politician, or a hero, I'm just a pop singer. Just because I HAVE money doesn't mean I'm going to give it to them!"

" _I honestly don't know they could want with you, Mimi. My knowledge of their inner workings is decidedly limited—Vanessa wouldn't let me in on it. She said she wouldn't until she was in control of the Frost fortune._ " Erik took another sip from his wine as he rolled his eyes. " _There were plenty of red flags with her, now that I think about it, but once you're married…_ "

"I don't care about your screwed up marriage and I don't really care about this cult bullshit either." Nack interrupted before the copper fox went into a tirade. "I do gotta ask somethin', though: how persistent are these bastards in gettin' their shit done?"

" _Well, they hired you._ "

"…Okay, that may be a valid point, but do you think they were involved in…" Nack glanced over to the arctic fox sitting aside him. She cocked her head to the side in confusion at the long look he gave her. Mina watched, bemusement coursing through her at the silent stare being exchanged. Erik coughing awkwardly interrupted the stare.

" _You mean Genevieve and Paul's, uh…disappearance…? It…MIGHT be connected to them, I'm not sure. Vanessa wanted to get rid of Genevieve and Stella so she would have direct access to the fortune, which I'm sure she would've funneled into Thaddeus' cult at some point._ " Erik said uneasily. " _And I doubt that this cult was too happy that the Frost family was cutting them off. I've seen billing records from decades ago. They used to donate regular hefty sums._ "

"…Alright, Fairfield, do me a favor. Look into the Frost records and find me some more shit about this cult. It might be a clue into the, uh…disappearance…" Nack glanced at Stella again, who was beginning to look forlorn. "…of Stella's parents. If ya got the time then I'd like to know what the hell they need a pop singer for, too. And fer god's sake, just FORWARD me that goddamn stipend already, I'm sure one inconsistency won't hurt. I'll update you soon, or whatever."

" _Can do, and no, I don't mean the stipend. It isn't happening. I'll get back to you as soon as I can with new information._ " Erik lifted his glass in some sort of pseudo toast and then the connection flickered out. It left them with just the light of the dying fire and the buzz of the screen to keep them company. Nack groaned and pushed the laptop to the side, swearing under his breath as he went to add another log to the fire. Mina, however, just looked onwards to the glum fox kit.

"Your parents…?" Mina asked uneasily. Stella bundled her knees up by her chin, sticking her feet out and hiding her muzzle against her legs. "Your parents, they're….I mean…"

"They're missing. I'm gonna find them." Stella said stubbornly, avoiding eye contact by staring at the blank video feed of the laptop. "I hired the guys to help me find my parents. And they'll help me find them."

Mina wasn't sure what she felt right then—half of it was her heart tugging at the child's determination, the other half was unease that the child was so unwilling to accept what…PROBABLY was the reality. Of course, she considered, she would've had a hard time accepting the reality too. Hell, she DID have a hard time accepting the reality sometimes. For such a long time with her father gone and her mother taken over during the wartimes…sometimes it was so easy to just deny that any of it had happened.

Really, she just had to come to her own personal conclusions and realizations, no matter what it took. And if it took searching and investigation to make Stella feel better about that probable reality then Mina couldn't down on her for it. Eventually she knew it would come around to the girl and she would have to come to terms with it. It always helped to have people like her uncle there supporting her in such a time of internal distress. Even the three goons of malicious misdeeds seemed to be there for the little girl in such a hard time—even if it was for an apparent stipend. A little voice in the back of her head, that Mina tried to ignore, told her that they probably would've done it without the money anyways.

Lifting up the blanket at her side, she paused for a second then moved forward to whisk the little girl close to her in a hug. Stella started a bit, shocked by the sudden embrace, and then looked up to Mina with big questioning eyes. The mongoose let out a dry, empty chuckle.

"I know it's hard sometimes to, uh…'find' your parents. I had a hard time 'finding' mine too." Mina whispered to the little girl. Stella held her hands over her mouth in surprise. "Your uncle seems kinda drunk, but he really loves you."

"My friends love me too."

Mina shot a disapproving glare at Nack, who just saluted her sarcastically as he lobbed another hunk of wood on the fire. Such a jerk. She supposed she couldn't understand Stella's connection with the Hooligans any more than they could understand her connection with the Freedom Fighters, though. Something about Erik Fairfield's words made her think that it was something more than some kid that they just picked up.

She sighed, resting her head on Stella's head as the little fox drifted off to sleep underneath her. Connection or not, she clearly had bigger problems. Running would be pointless right now—they were way too deep in the desert and the only way she was getting to the next city alive was on that junker bike that Nack seemed to be so in love with. And as if being kidnapped by the dingus crew without a hope of escape yet apparent, now she knew that they were taking her to a cult leader. She couldn't imagine what they could possibly want with her but everything her mind conjured sent shivers down her spine, even under the thin blanket on her shoulders.

She froze slightly when she felt a heavier weight pushing down on her shoulders. Looking back in confusion, she pawed at a thick wool blanket overtop the thin blanket—Nack wiped off his hands and headed back to the Marvelous Queen without comment on the sudden kindness. Mina knotted her brow; she supposed he couldn't have his expensive kidnapped paycheck getting sick and dying.

Though with the squirming girl in her arms stopping and resting comfortably in the warmth, something told her it was something else.


	8. Perilous Plunge

Chapter Eight

Perilous Plunge

The dry air of the desert had slowly morphed into a humid breeze that blew comfortably across them all as they slowly peddled across the desert. The thick sand was slowly receding into increasingly larger crops of flora. Mina would know—she could see it all in excruciating detail at the speed they were going. It was fairly obvious to her that the Marvelous Queen was dreadfully low on gas and Nack just wouldn't admit it. It wasn't like he had anywhere to fill it up anyways. Empire City was still a good few hours away. But the weasel seemed absolutely determined to not have to push the vehicle, even if it conserved the little resources he had left.

She sighed. If she didn't die from some stupid stunt that the Hooligans pulled, she'd die of thirst first. Though her parched fault was kind of her own fault…she had been practicing the song lyrics of that stupid song on the bike's player since the morning had come. Mina was nothing if not a woman of her word but right now she was kind of regretting it. They were out of water and her throat was aching for solace.

…She had memorized most of the lyrics though.

Hanging her body out the side of the sidecar, Mina peered across the horizon. The haze of light green seemed to be getting thicker as they drove forward, but with the sun reflecting right into her eyes it was impossible to tell how close or far it was. Even Nack, wearing a pair of sunglasses, seemed to be squinted incomprehensively ahead of them. Which didn't really give the mongoose any confidence to have him behind the wheel, no matter how slowly they were sputtering across the sands.

"Maybe we should get out and push the bike, Nack." Stella voiced Mina's internal concerns, leaning from her position seated behind the weasel to check the gas gauge. Her eyes immediately squinted at the cruel force of the sun. "I mean, we're really low on gas…and it's kinda hard to see."

"I have sunglasses." Nack grunted in response, tapping one finger against the side of the dark lenses.

Stella just rolled her eye and flipped back around to rest on the weasel's back again. Her icy eyes briefly flickered between the two sidecars, one with a passed out Bean hugging some unlit bomb and the other with the disgruntled mongoose and her 'bodyguard'. Bark wasn't looking too good in this heat. In fact, he was positively sweating up a storm in the deluge that was his arctic blubber and thick yellow fur. Mina looked up to him in pity; normally she wouldn't feel so bad for her captors but the poor bear looked like he was dying in the heat. His kind simply weren't made for this kind of sweltering weather.

Then again, if he passed out, she wouldn't have a hulking slab of muscle hovering over her at all times…

Mina sighed. It didn't really matter to think about that. There were still in nowhere land as far as civilization was concerned. If she hopped off the bike now then she knew that she would just be screwing herself. Either she'd starve to death, or she'd die or dehydration. Whichever came first. All she could do now was let the air blow through her hair as they whisked across the sandy plains and watch the various growing plantlife gathering the closer they got to that green haze in the distance. She hummed softly; the mongoose could almost feel the air getting cooler the closer they got to that enchanting haze.

"Gotta switch gears or something." Nack muttered; she sent Stella an annoyed look. The fox just shrugged; they both knew there was nothing to be done about the Marvelous Queen at this point. Switching gears would just make the gas deplete quicker…but it was clear that the sun wasn't making the weasel think straight. It wasn't really making any of them thinking straight.

With a jerk, the bike sped forward with a resistant sputter from the engine. Mina gasped slightly and fell back. Quickly she shot a glare at the weasel as they picked up speed into the distance. Then, with a sniff, she closed her eyes delicately and leaned forward. That breeze coming from the haze sure was nice…cool, inviting, much different from the sun in the previous few miles that had tormented them so. It almost reminded her of…

Her eyes snapped open.

"Hey, w-wait! Hold on!" Mina protested, leaning over the sidecar to Nack and Stella. The fox girl gazed at her inquisitively but Nack just placed a finger on the mongoose's forehead and pushed her back. "Hey, what the hell! Listen to me!"

"I'm driving. I'm busy, Pop Star." He groused. "You think it's easy to drive in this weather? Geez, I can't see anything…"

"Of course you can't! The sun is blazing! But, Nack, listen to me!" Mina yelled urgently. Both the fox and the weasel were looking at her in confusion now. "The feel of the air, the cooling…"

"'S nice. Dunno what you're problem is."

"No, you IDIOT! There's a fall up ahead! Cliffs, you idiot, CLIFFS!" Mina screamed. Nack immediately snapped to attention, pulling the side of the bike to a screeching halt—the bike slid across the sand to bump across patches of flora. Stella gripped tightly on Nack's waist while the mongoose let out a shrill shriek, covering her head and ducking into the sidecar. Within seconds Bark's massive arm was above her.

It was too late. Much, much too late.

With a deafening screech of metal against solid rock, the entire body of the Marvelous Queen slid through the green haze and over the side of a massive cliff. Only the furthest sidecar, carrying the still sleeping Bean, kept them from falling off entirely. Blearily Mina realized that the green haze was the reflection of trees and flowers below and around them. Looking down, her eyes widened when she realized what they were reflecting off of—the misty, heavy haze of a waterfall cascading out from inside the stone walls. It rained down into one of many water pools spotted on the ground below them.

Her first instinct was to panic.

It also happened to be her second instinct as well.

As she tried desperately to remain calm while she was in the sidecar of a motorcycle hanging desperately over a cliff, she tried to run through some ideas wildly. What was one even supposed to do in this type of crisis? The bike was already scrapping downwards and Stella had fallen down from her perch on the back of the bike and onto Bark's stomach. Nack was desperately revving the engine, only to get no response—it was out of gas. So much for taking advantage of the flight capabilities. Stiffly the weasel looked down at the three below him—Stella on top of Bark, Mina buried under the bear's arm. He couldn't pull them all up. He had NEVER been the muscle of the team.

"Stay…still." He whispered urgently. Fear was present in his eyes. Mina, Stella, and Bark just nodded silently. Their eyes reflected the same fear—the cascading water below them.

Slowly, Nack fixed his gaze on the other side of the bike—Bean, fast asleep and unaware of it all. Noting his own position half on and half off the cliff, a sudden flash sparked in his mind. Reaching out to the sidecar still on the shelf of rock, he shook Bean awake urgently. The bird groaned in annoyance and blinked at the weasel, eyes full of sleep and annoyance. "What do you want? Are we there…"

"Bean. Summon some bombs. DON'T light them." Nack instructed. The duck cocked his head to the side in confusion, climbing up to hang off the sidecar. The weasel's eyes widened as the entire vehicle creaked dangerously away from rock. "Fer God's sake, Bean! What are you doing?! Just do what I say and summon the damn bombs! Weigh out the other side!"

"Weigh out what now?" Bean yawned, crawling across the metal strut connecting the sidecar to the bike. Nack's eyes widened dramatically, mouth falling open in disbelief as the bike screeched further forward. Bean just made a small humming sound as he looked down at the situation. From the further sidecar, Bark held out his hand urgently to stop the duck. Stella and Mina joined him, waving their hands wildly as they teetered close to the edge. "You know…"

"You don't know jackshit! Get back there and do what I said!"

"An explosion might fix this."

"WHAT?!" Nack screeched as the duck giggled; the weasel's eyes immediately focused in on the sidecar that the dynamo had left, the bomb he had been cuddling in his sleep now fizzling down to the bottom of the fuse. "SWEET JESUS, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YO—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the fuse met the base and an explosion rattled throughout the plains. The sidecar keeping them tied to the cliff side was blown violently across the sands and dried grasses, detaching from the main vehicle. Screams rang out as they cascaded down alongside the waterfall, along with a contented whistle from the duck. Mina could barely hear a string of obscenities being screeched loudly through the wind and sound of the waterfall. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and struggled to push her feet in front of her. The Hooligans flailed wildly to try to move in the wind.

And with a smack and a splash, they all hit the water. Immediately Mina felt enveloped in pain, prickles covering her body like a harsh burn. A gasp pushed out of her inadvertently. Water rushed into her mouth and she flailed her arms and legs to get to surface—it seemed like a fruitless effort. Her entire body felt like it had just done two full days of work with no rest. Even though she could see the sun reflecting in the clear water just above her…it was like fighting to get past a brick wall. Everything hurt so bad.

Everything was becoming darker…her eyelids dropped listlessly as her body sank downwards. She could feel the pressure of the waterfall behind her. It was trying to suck her in. Once she was in there…there was no out. The mongoose knew that, she kept repeating it over and over in her mind, but her body wouldn't comply. Even her own mind wasn't complying anymore—it was all becoming foggy and confusing as she drifted further downwards.

 _I can't believe this is how it all ends._ She thought listlessly through the fog of her mind as she was slowly pulled further backwards. _Years of being part of a rebellion, fighting, and this…this is it…?_

She was snapped out of her reverie when she felt an arm curve around her waist to pull her up against a back. Her legs loosely latched around the waist, the back of her feet resting comfortably against the top of a belt buckle. The sun came closer and closer as Mina felt herself being pulled upwards against the current. Her mind was too confused to figure out what was going on anymore—all she could register was pain and her lungs longing desperately for air.

With a loud gasp, they broke the surface of the pool.

Mina blinked blearily as she was paddled across the lake. Bark was already on the beach of the pool shaking off the water in annoyance. In the back of her mind she registered that her legs were wrapped around Nack's middle, that her head was buried in the crook of his shoulder as he swam closer to shore. At the moment she couldn't find the will to care. Everything hurt far, far too much to be bothered with thinking about whatever was going on.

As she was laid down on the shore, she could see Bean to her left climbing out of the water with water dripping off his oiled feathers. He had a huge grin on his face; craning her head, Mina could see that his partner did not share that enthusiasm. Bark was glaring openly at the duck. If she had bothered to focus on them any more, the mongoose would've noticed the grin slowly dying off from Bean's face under the harsh and inspecting eyes of the bear. He shuffled up to sit next to them with his legs against his chest, seemingly contemplating.

With a groan, Mina tried to sit up; it was no good. She barely rose without pain running across her skin. If she didn't know better she would've sworn her actual fur was burning with the pain. Her clogged eyes focused in on the weasel who had brought her ashore—or rather, where he had been. Nack had turned back to the water to dive right back in. The mongoose managed to prop herself up on her elbows high enough to watch curiously.

Behind her, Bark popped open the back of the very trashed Marvelous Queen that he had dragged out of the water—he fished out a waterproof case and popped it open to grab several towels. One went atop the young pop stars head and she yelped in protest as the thick fabric blocked her eyes. When the towel was pulled away from her now messy hair, she saw the weasel paddling back to shore again—this time, with a small fox atop his back.

Stella Frost…

The girl was placed down gently, far more gently than Mina was, on the sand next to the pop star. Feeling the pain slowly ebbing, the singer climbed closer to the unconscious girl. Nack slapped her away and snapped his fingers at the team muscle. Bark nodded and went back to the waterproof case, this time bringing out a small travel-sized First Aid Kid. In the meantime, the weasel pressed the side of his head against the small child's chest.

At that point, Nack made the most genuine sound that Mina had ever heard out of the thieving liar. A long, wistful, relieved sigh.

"Jesus, kid, you worried me." He shook his head as Bark began to wrap the unconscious girl's wounds. "Bark, is she going to be okay? She's still breathing but…"

Bark just put a hand over the weasel's mouth, not even bothering to look at him, and nodded sagely as he lifted the small leg to wrap bandages around. In the bear's massive hand her leg looks like a toothpick, yet he treated it with the grace and sophistication of a pianist. Bean and Nack hovered over this delicate process while Mina watched in fascination, watched as three of the most infamous bounty hunting criminals acted like a child they were paid to have…

…was each of their own.

Almost transfixed by the surreal scene, Mina made to go to the little girl's side—only to hiss in pain and fall forward. Her leg was burning with pain. Nack looked up suddenly, almost as if he was confused, looking at the mongoose as if he was surprised to see her despite the fact that he had pulled her out of the waterfall. Bark didn't say a word, he just tossed a spare roll of bandages to his leader as Stella coughed up water and glanced around blearily. A large hand patted her head reassuringly.

Nack, in the meantime, plopped down next to the popstar and gestured her to hold out her arm. He blocked off Mina's view of Stella and the Hooligans duo so, with a sigh, she held out her leg instead. He raised a brow but shrugged, lifting up the leg to press his thumb lightly around the ankle. Around the base, Mina let out an audible hiss and the weasel hummed in interest.

"Right here, right?"

"…Yes. I think it's broken."

"Don't be a goddamn drama queen." Nack reprimanded, pressing on the spot harder this time. "It's probably a sprain. You probably got it when you hit the water feet first. How did that feel? One to ten pain gauge?"

"I-I mean…it's not that bad…maybe a one or two…?" Mina stuttered out. Nack paused to shoot her a flat stare. "…Well, I mean, it's probably more of a three or four. A three. D-definitely a three."

"Ain't got nothin' to gain from lyin' to me right now, princess." Nack muttered, pulling the bandages off the roll and around her aching ankle. She winced slightly at the sensation against her fur. "It's gonna hurt. I ain't got no ice to put it on so you're just gonna have to take it easy. It's either a sprain or bruising. Probably the latter, we didn't fall THAT far. Yer probably gonna feel some burning in your skin for a while now, that'll be normal. 'S gonna feel better way sooner than this does, I'll tell you that for damn sure."

"You do this often or something?" Mina quipped. Nack let out a huff of a laugh.

"We try not to. I know ya think we're a group of idiots, MINA, but we're not so stupid that we regularly try jumping off of cliffs." Nack paused for a moment to look back at Bean with a grimace on his face. "…Well, I mean, most of us. Bean's always been a headcase causing problems. But he'll pay for it."

"He will?" Mina asked quizzically. Nack nodded as he snipped off the end of the bandage on her ankle. "Uh, how? How will he pay?"

"I think you'll figure it out if you meditate on it a bit. That's what you socialite types like to do, right? Meditate?" Nack was grinning now—he was screwing with her. The purple haired girl didn't smile back. She just stared right back at him with a serious look on her face. "The hell is your problem? What, did you figure out how he's gonna pay? I mean, I don't like to think about it either, but that's their busi—"

"Thank you."

"…ness. What?"

"You saved my life back there. I know you just did it because you want your payout and all that but…you still did. Thanks." Mina said. The weasel looked back in forth, as if he wasn't quite sure how to take this sudden change of heart. "What, do you think that means I trust you guys or forgive you for kidnapping me? Gimme a break, I'm no dolt. But I was raised to thank someone when they do something good for me. Especially when it's saving me from death."

"Eh, well, I…you're welcome…?" Mina could tell the weasel was not used to being thanked—from the way he acted, she wasn't sure if he had ever heard the words 'thank you' in the same sentence before, at least not directed at himself. Somehow she felt a chuckle rising is her chest because of his expression. "Hey, THAT ain't too thankful."

"Consider it a counterbalance for putting me in this stupid situation."

"…Alright, if you wanna play hardball." He muttered, lowering his water soaked hat over his eyes. They sat there for a bit, the sounds of the waterfall and Stella being cleaned off and bandaged up being their only companion. Mina glanced past the weasel to the small fox girl as she was toweled off—Bark's sturdy body seemed to have endured little damage, and Bean had curiously suffered no damage at all despite his small and unintimidating frame. The little bird was a curiosity for sure. He was currently hanging off Stella with a forced forlorn frown on his face.

"…I know you told me that…I mean, to not ask questions about Stella, but…" Mina began. Nack looked at her from the corner of his eyes, still staring out into the gushing waterfall. "…you guys really consider her part of the team, don't you? You treat her like she's your very own daughter. What HAPPENED there? I would've never imagined any of the Hooligans picking up a little girl like her."

"…Well, her face is on the news, so I guess it'll come out sooner or later." Nack sighed; his fingers inched desperately for a cigarette to pop in his mouth but there wasn't a chance in hell that any of them had survived that waterlogged fall. It seemed that worldly addictions would have to wait. "She hired us to find her parents. We're still lookin', technically, but its mostly a formality at this point. A side project ta our regular work, I guess."

"You've been hired by Eggman and I don't see him tagging along with you." Mina noted. Nack snorted.

"Who would want that helium balloon along on my work? It's bad enough that I have to keep in touch with his ugly mug when I'm on assignment for him." Nack snorted. "I can't explain. And I ain't gonna bother to. Jus'…that kid is special to me. I ain't ever wanted kids but if I did then that kid would be the kid I wanted."

"I can see that. You went straight after her with no second thoughts."

"Hey, gotta protect your village. Even if your village is comprised of village idiots and nothing else." Nack chuckled. "How's the ankle?"

"Huh? Oh!" Mina looked down at her bandaged ankle. The throbbing feeling had disappeared into a dull, minimal pain. "It's good, actually. I guess it's not broken. Probably not even a sprain either."

"Told ya." He snickered. Then he stared back at the waterfall. Mina could barely see that he seemed to be focusing to the side, on the fox child and the duo that he supposedly directed. Stella was walking around—Mina wasn't sure if Nack was aware of the clear relief on his face. "…Ya should get some rest, popstar. We're gonna be going into Central City tomorrow. But its gonna be on foot so that ankle is gonna get tested out."

"Oh…yeah. I guess you're right." Mina replied. She stretched her leg out to wiggle it slightly—it felt better, but she wouldn't be running on it anytime soon. Any plans she could've had for bailing to reach Central City before the Hooligans was officially shot. She figured that she would just have to wait at this point and see what happened. Maybe, just maybe, she'd have a chance in the city itself…

" _Hey brother, what you thinking…_ " She sang to herself under her breath. " _They call it lonely digging…_ "


	9. Bunga Book

Chapter Nine

Bunga Book

It had taken a lot of effort, mostly on the part of Bark, to haul the now single-sidecar mess that was the Marvelous Queen into Central City. The effort certainly hadn't gone without attention—passerbys treated them with confused looks as they hauled the half-scrapped vehicle to the first bike repair shop. They only gained more attention when they had to trudge out to take it to another nearby shop, since the first one hadn't serviced airbikes. By the time they got settled into the rinky-dink lounge, complete with a fine selection of tasteless nudie magazines, the sun had set behind the horizon and the entire crew was tired and irate.

Not that getting to the shop made it any better.

"Look, buddy, I'll give you a flat hundred to fix this thing. It won't take any time at all. Take the damn hundred." Nack insisted, waving a bill in front of the lynx owner's face. An un-amused expression was painted on it as he tapped his claws against the counter in annoyance. "It's a older model. No tough parts. And it just needs some small fix-ups. Will you just take the damn hundred already?"

"Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you are or who you think you're trying to play." The repairman leaned back and shook his head. "But none of the mechanics are dumb enough to think that mess you hauled in is an 'easy fix'. You're gonna have to go down a solid three hundred at minimum. And that's if we don't find any extra issues that need to be fixed."

"I just need it to run." Nack said through grit teeth.

"And three hundred minimum is what it's gonna take for us to get it to run. If you're LUCKY." The lynx snorted. "No one in this TOWN is gonna fall for your bullshit. NO mechanic would work on that thing for such a low price. I'm lowballing it as is so you should just take the damn deal while its available."

"I don't have three hundred to drop!" Nack snapped.

"Then take the bus. Or walk."

"I'm trying to get to freakin' Station Square! You don't WALK to Station Square from goddamn Efrika!" Nack shouted. The lynx seemed unfazed.

"So take a boat out of Spagonia."

"I…uh, we can't do that." Nack sombered slightly, backing up a bit. The lynx rolled his eyes and focused on the crew behind the weasel. They were a weird bunch. Nevermind the little girl inexplicably hanging out with obvious criminals, there was also the bear who looked like he could piledrive a semi with a slightly psychotic looking duck on his shoulder. That and the young woman pressed against the bear's side with his arm wrapped firmly around her mouth. She looked mad.

He flipped his eyes back and forth between the two. Then he chuckled.

"You can't, can you? Alright. Then let's just drop the formalities. You idiots, I've seen you on the news." Nack froze up at the lynx's words. His fingers tickled the handle of his pistol and the lynx shook his hand with a grin. "Nah, nah. Trust me, I don't care. Half my customers are the goddamn mafia. Whatever a bunch of low down bounty hunters are up to isn't any of my business. But plenty of people right now know what YOU'RE up to. She's Mina Mongoose, innit she?"

"YES! Call the police!" Mina shrieked, popping over the bear's arm. Bark immediately stifled her again and the lynx chuckled in amusement.

"Thought so. You three…er, four?" He gestured at Stella and she just shot him a gleaming smile. "…Eh, yeah. You're all the Hooligans, right? Made quite a name for yourselves thanks to screwing up so many times working for Eggman. Not that anybody has lamented it, mind you, he ain't a popular guy."

"Just get to the goddamn point." Nack snapped, resting his elbow on the counter with his fang bared to the attendant. The young lynx had clearly worked with plenty of criminals—the action didn't even make him flinch. He just let out a snicker. "What the hell do you want to fix my bike?"

"You saw the nightclub next door, right?" He jerked a thumb to the left. Nack nodded slowly. "Well, me and my brother own it. It's sort of a new venture, if you get what I mean. I wanna run it by night and be the repairman by day. Twice the income. But since its new, we've been having a bit of trouble getting acts. I got plenty of bastards lined up to come hang out in the place but I've been having a hell of a time finding anyone to actually perform. They all want to perform at, I don't know, well known joints or something."

"I said get to the goddamn point. You haven't gotten to the goddamn point yet." Nack said testily. The lynx laughed raucously, slamming his paw against the counter a few times.

"I like you, buddy. Alright, I'll play straight." He snickered. "I know you got Mina Mongoose right behind you there. Everybody loves Mina Mongoose's voice. You hand her over to do a gig tonight at my nightclub, then I'll have Roy in the back do the whole damn job for free. Capisce?"

"What?! I am not performing some…some STRIP CLUB gig!" Mina shrieked, popping out to hang fully over Bark's arm. The bear rolled his eyes, not bothering to pull her up again—the cat was out of the bag anyways. "Look, I know that a lot of people think some of those weird rumors about me are true but—"

"Will you relax, babe? It ain't a strip club. We don't do strippers. Me and my brother perform classy shit, y'know, jazz and swing. It's the perfect thing to get drunk to." The lynx interrupted. Mina was still red in the face. "Scout's honor, miss, you won't be takin' off even your ugly ass scarf. I mean, you'll have to wear some of the club clothes but that's it."

"I will NOT—"

"Yeah, sure, fine. She's yours. Stella, you wanna watch this?" Nack said flippantly. Mina stared at the weasel open mouthed in disbelief. Stella nodded eagerly. "Alright, that's fine, got that all worked out. But you have to put a wig on her or something, I don't want anyone recognizing her and calling nine one one on our asses. And you better have good security, I'm running a kidnapping deal here and I don't want the target running off just because you jackasses can't run your club worth a damn."

"Great! Hey, Roy, come out here and get this girl over to the nightclub! She's gonna be our act for tonight!" The repairman shouted into the back of the store. A larger lynx, with more of a dark auburn fur, emerged from the shop—he was smaller and less built that Bark but the Hooligans could tell just from looking that the beast of a man could definitely at least try to hold his weight against the bear. Years of muscle built up from the hard labor of automobile repair rippled under his fur and his face seemed permanently set in an expression of distaste.

Mina swallowed her protests.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Mongoose. Jim and I thank you greatly for your help." He said. The massive cat's voice was deep and although it was rough and husky in tone, he spoke smoothly and professionally. "If you would follow me, I could get you set up in an outfit for the performance. We can put her on tonight, I assume?"

"Yeah, I don't give a shit. Just have my bike fixed by morning and make sure Mina don't look like Mina." Nack shrugged. "Now, I need my airbike to be running, but if there's anything you want to touch up on then you wouldn't hear me complaining. She needed an oil change."

"I will do my best." Was all Roy replied, taking Mina's arm in his hand. She felt like a toothpick underneath his palm—it was big enough to cover her whole hand. "Please come with me."

"I, uh…" Mina made to protest but she found nothing could come out. She shot a hateful glare at Nack. He just grinned and tipped his hat at her as the giant cat led her away with Bark in tow. Just yesterday she had ALMOST thought that the weasel and his men had some good in them, but apparently they couldn't go twenty-four hours without taking advantage of someone. It just figured. It wasn't as if they had saved her or patched her up out of personal concern, after all.

Still, from the lounge, she could hear the remnants of excited shouts.

"I've always wanted to see this! I've never seen Miss Mina perform, not ever, she's always been too far away for me to! I bet she looks twice as amazing performing in person! I'm actually gonna SEE it! It's like a super special show that no other fan will see ever! Isn't it great?!"

"It was a lucky coincidence, wasn't it."

Mina groaned. She just couldn't work them out. She supposed as she was ferried through the door connecting the garage and the club that she didn't really want to, even if it did frustrate her to no end to not understand everything in her situation. She puffed her cheeks up obstinately—then rolled her eyes as the owner let out a shout telling Bean to put his damn bomb out in his shop.

So frustrating…

* * *

Nack let out a breath of satisfying smoke with a long sigh. It felt like it had been months since there had been a quality cigar latched between his fangs. This place that they were maintaining was just his sort of joint—lots of alcohol and lots of cigarettes under a good low light with a backup singer prepping the audience. She was a sweet thing, he thought with a snicker, a small little lemming bustling around the stage to fix it up for the upcoming show. What a kid like that was doing under the pressure of nightclub work, the weasel supposed he could never figure out.

Even better, Bean had disappeared thirty minutes ago when the repairman had come out saying that Bark had asked for the duck. Nack supposed that he wanted the dynamo for extra security—they were risking a lot agreeing to this but they wouldn't be going anywhere without reliable transportation. Plus, he thought it was funny as hell. The face that the pop star had made when the bounty hunters had agreed to the deal had been one of the most priceless expressions he had seen in a while.

Aside him sat Stella. She was munching on a grilled cheese that the bar had quickly whipped up for her, accompanied by a Roy Rogers. All exceptions that weren't on the bar menu, but the sheer fact that she was there at all was an exception anyways. Normally kids weren't allowed in sleaze holes like this but Nack hadn't really felt it a good idea to leave her alone in the garage with Roy. Not that he didn't trust the guy, he seemed like a pretty straightforward type, but he just figured Stella had wanted to see the show and wasn't too keen on letting the young girl out of his sight.

He coughed a bit when she tried to slither up on the table, which was just an extension of the runway style stage that stretched out from the front. Lights gleamed from the side, illuminating them with an eerie purple glow. Nothing that made him look anything out of the normal, but Stella's snow-white fur was currently reflecting it like a neon lamp. The whole setup admittedly did remind the weasel of a strip club…but he was going to have to take the garage duo on their word.

"She's pretty." Stella commented, her brow knotted. "But where's Miss Min—"

Nack shot the girl a look.

"…Uh, I mean, when is the main show starting?" She giggled, covering her mouth. Nack chuckled.

"It shouldn't long now. Don't worry, you'll get your personalized little concert, princess moneybags. You kinda got yourself a win-win situation with this, didn't ya? Meanwhile I gotta sit back and listen to the pop star try to croon." Nack laughed. Stella shook her head with a smile.

"I think she'll do a great job." Stella stated. Nack rolled his eyes, but as if on cue, the stage lights on the runway clicked shut in sequence and a spotlight shone down on the middle of the empty stage. From behind dark red curtains, white-gloved arms appear to part the red mass, and the mongoose stepped into the spotlight with a confidence that only a professional singer could have. Nack quickly inspected the garage duo's effort of concealing the sensation.

A long blonde wig had been carefully placed over the mop of purple—it successfully hid all the true strands of hair as it fell around her ankles. Her usual naked face was painted delicately in matching red lipstick and a subtle pink eyeshadow. The pop star attire had been lost. Replacing it was a long pale pink dress with a slit up the side and a heart cut neckline, with thin black leather belts strung around the waist. Nack took a satisfied puff from his cigar—he was afraid that a pair of middle aged men would have some trouble making a successful disguise but they seemed to know their makeup and attire. No one would mistake her for Mina Mongoose, that was for sure.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the evening, I present you with Minnie Myrna." The husky but smooth voice of the larger lynx emerged from the top of the stage—a microphone. Nack scrunched up his nose. That guy was supposed to be working on his bike right now. He silently swore that he'd pull a few out of the register if his bike wasn't done just because his repairmen were distracted by his captive. "She will be presenting us with a song about a man."

The audience went silent as the disguised pop star approached the stage. As her thin gloved hands wrapped around the mic, the audience seemed to almost lean in as a whole entity. Nack snorted; they were clearly all taken by the girl. Not that it bothered him—the better they took to Mina, the more likely that he didn't get screwed over in this deal. His ear flipped as he could hear a horn starting up from the side of the stage, the same lemming girl from before now in a tuxedo with a trumpet in her hands.

And then, he caught Mina's eyes.

And she smirked.

Somehow, it sent a feeling of dread through his stomach.

"Come on folks! Gather 'round." Mina declared to the audience, holding out her hand and detaching the mic to step past its stand. " _The world out there's a jungle, with danger everywhere. A wet old cat, a dirty rat, does things that just ain't fair."_

Her heels clacked as she swiftly made her way down the runway stage. " _Now here's the king of the swingers—"_ Mina chuckled harshly, slamming her heel down next to Nack's table to glare down at him with a painted smile. "— _At least he USED to be. He thinks its cool to play the fool and mess with you and me!_ "

Nack shrank backwards as the pop star shifted her hips back and forth—the entire audience was looking to him curiously now. He pushed his hat down over his eyes, but only enough so that he could still glare out at the girl. She returned the fierce look. " _Look out ladies! Dolls, watch out. He'll eat you up and spit you out…he's Bunga Bunga, the king of fun, look right PAST that son of a gun. Take care kitten! Broads, beware! He'll break your heart with time to spare—Bunga Bunga, the king of sin, he won't give up and he won't give in!_ "

The women aside Nack were now shifting slightly aware from him. He groaned in irritation—Stella was clapping yet here he was regretting everything. Should've just thrown her in a ditch, he should've…more trouble than she was worth. The girl could get her revenge rightfully, he could at least give her that. It had been some time since someone had singled him out in a crowd and managed to submit him to abject humiliation.

"Look out! Beware! Watch out, take care! Now WAIT a minute, there's more!" She shouted, slamming her heel off the stage and onto the extended table that his beer was on. The entire thing shook. " _The law of the jungle, is a law of his design. A smooth operator, he breaks the rules most everytime! Slimy like a snake he slides around the scene, his big gorilla bodyguard, his broken limousine!_ "

"Look out ladies! Dolls, watch out! He'll eat you up and spit you out!" She bowed down to the group of women at the table aside Nack. " _He's Bunga Bunga, the king of fun—look right PAST that son of a gun! Take care, kitten, broads beware! He'll break your heart with time to spare, he's Bunga Bunga, the king of sin! You're just a page in the Bunga Book of his life._ "

Nack grit his teeth around his cigar as the woman climbed back onto the stage, holding one hand the sky dramatically while one hovered in his general direction. " _He ROARS like a lion—but he's just a PUSSYCAT. He's strong like an elephant—but he's just a dirty RAT!_ "

On the last line she turned on her heel, bowed down, and stared the weasel right in the eyes face to face. For that moment, both he and the little girl sitting aside him caught the sheer determination and willpower that existed within the pop singer that was so often portrayed by the media as meek and waifish. Even if it was just through song, she wouldn't let what she considered a slight to justice and dignity go, and it was clear that if Nack was going to sell her dignity then she was going to take his right along with it.

" _Look out, ladies—dolls, watch out! He'll eat you up and spit you out, he's Bunga Bunga—the king of sin. And you're just a page, yeah just a page, just a page in the Bunga Book of his dirty life._ " The last line was almost whispered into the microphone yet it amplified out to everyone in the crowd as the musical accompaniment finished up behind her. With a toss of the blonde wig hiding her natural purple locks, Mina stepped back up on the stage and presented the audience with a gleaming smile and held out her arms to them. For a moment, they were silent.

Then they burst into applause.

Nack supposed it was inevitable; all of them were either drunk or drowning in tobacco fumes so it was likely anyone there had actually picked up on Mina's actions. Even Stella was squealing and clapping like a little maniac—not that he hadn't expected that with how much of a fanatic the girl was over the popstar. As the captive of the Hooligans slid into another song number, a soft jazzy love song, the weasel groaned loudly and flicked his cigar to the side.

He would need something way stronger than that to get through this stupid night.

 _At least my damn bike will get fixed…._


	10. The Wrong Ringer

Chapter Ten

The Wrong Ringer

"Tails, you okay, man? You've been quiet since we left Spagonia."

"Hmm? O-oh. Sorry, Sonic." The golden fox looked up, eyes taking a moment to adjust from the light of his laptop. His best friend peeked over Tails' shoulder—the screen seemed to be filled with nothing but police reports and blurry photographs. "I'm just trying to put two and two together. That's all."

"And what would two and two be, exactly?" Sonic asked, moving to hover over the boy's shoulder. Tails' flushed a bit. He hadn't exactly wanted to show his prying to his friend. He wasn't quite sure of his lead, after all, and it almost insulted his genius to not to have everything together before presenting a theory. He was an intellect at heart when it came down to it.

"W-well…you remember how I told you about how that girl is Spagonia fought to get away from us? Well, me, I guess…" Tails scratched the back of his head nervously. "I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen her face before. But I KNOW I haven't seen her with the Hooligans before. So I was kinda looking through some old files in the missing persons catalog…and I think I might have found something."

"Hey, shoot it at me, buddy. We're dead on leads as is. We only caught them in Spagonia because it was the quickest route out of Eurish." Sonic sighed as he rested his elbow against the fox's shoulder. Tails' eyes were focused back on the screen and the files, clicking rapidly out of them to get to the bottom of the pile. "Even if it's a small lead then I think we could do good to have it."

"Stella Frost. I saw her registered as a missing person about a year back so I checked the database. It surprised me. There was the lack of publicity yet it if we can trust our eyes, then she's a member of a very wealthy and prestigious family." Tails brought up the photograph—the widely smiling white fox's profile matched the girl perfectly. "The Frost family. And their only known heir at that. You'd think if the ONLY child of the Frost family went missing, that there would be more of a fuss, right?"

"Well, I haven't heard of them, but if they're as big-named as you say…" Sonic considered it. "…then yeah, I'd wager it would only make sense if there was some sort of fuss about it."

"Well, I looked into the records. Aside from a oddly under-reported event at the Frost manor that she apparently turned up to then disappeared again afterwards, there's been no major reports on her runaway…or kidnapping." Tails' voice was loaded with implication as he brought up an old article. It featured a photograph of the police with a tired looking fox woman in cuff. Behind her stood the little girl. "But no. There was nothing. So I took this article photograph and enhanced it, and…"

Tails clicked open a photo file on his desktop—it was a carefully enlarged version of the photograph. The screen had been focused in around the small black haired fox in her light purple party dress—the dress that, from a distance, had masked an arm resting on her shoulder. It was an unmistakable purple fur, hidden under a familiar glove. Sonic's eyebrow rose a bit.

"…We can't be sure, though."

"It seems like one heck of a coincidence." Tails elaborated, shaking his head. "I mean, we can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure that the Hooligans were at this ball. Even the article kinda reflects it. The entire 'story' about the Frost matriarch rigging an elaborate plot only to be fooled by a nine year old is full of holes, specifically ones that could be filled with a lot of gunpower and a lot of pure muscle. I'm just guessing but it seems like they were purposely omitted from the article for some reason."

"Well, yeah, I guess, but what reason?" Sonic questioned. He wasn't quite buying it yet, Tails could see. He brought up another picture from the article—a copper red fox with blonde hair curling around his ears, looking tired and worn but wearing a strained smile. A thin champagne glass was balanced between his fingers.

"Eric Fairfield. He's the current owner of the Frost estate in the absence of his niece…and his wife." Tails replied. Sonic was silent, trying to digest the information being fed to him so rapidly. "Apparently at this party of theirs, his wife—Stella Frost's aunt and the previous controller of the fortune—was arrested for attempting to murder her niece. Sounds like a weird thing for an aunt to do, right?"

"You suggesting that Fairfield paid off the Hooligans to frame his wife and take off with the only heir to the fortune? So the story and this kid missing was covered up by him?" Sonic asked. Tails nodded briskly. "But…why?"

"I assume it was to get to the fortune. Like I said, the Frost family is a prestigious old money family. They're rolling in assets and gold just ripe for the picking by criminals. But that's only a theory. There could've been dozens of reasons, and I doubt Fairfield is going to answer any of the questions we have. But…" Tails brought up another picture—this time black and white—of the same fox woman from before standing sullenly against a lineup background. "…you don't need to take my word for it. I think there might be someone who we can actually ask about the event. And she's was just transferred three months ago to a Spagonian prison."

Sonic focused green eyes in on the woman standing against the lineup. Her light eyes were lidded and narrowed, a nasty scowl running across her features. Lipstick smeared across her mouth and her eyeliner seemed to be running down her cheeks. A ballgown, probably once one of the nicest that could be found, was in shreds on her shoulders and her dark hair stood up like she had been burned in a house fire. Something about that look seemed so untrustworthy…

…but he wouldn't file the Hooligans or anyone who worked with them under trustworthy either.

"Where is it?"

* * *

The lights of the visiting room were dim; the cheap bulbs seemed to flicker weakly every few seconds across the dirty cement walls and worn down green folding chairs. A guard stood poised and prepared by the door, a shotgun in his left hand and a handgun visibly available at his side. He gave the pair a jerky nod of the head as they entered the solemn room, looking through the bulletproof glass to the woman from the photograph. She did not fear meeting their eyes; rather, she stared right back with almost livid determination.

Vanessa Frost surely looked better than her lineup photo, with her hair smoothed down into a ponytail and scowl no longer present on her face. Her eyes still seemed to radiate irritation and an almost everpresent icy coldness, but in person the elder Frost seemed a bit less intimidating. Perhaps, Sonic concluded, it was the lack of the running makeup and explosive hair. She still seemed a bit unfriendly, though.

"Are you Vanessa Frost?"

To their surprise, Sonic's question was met with a snort as the woman looked away from them crossly. The hedgehog turned to Tails, who shrugged helplessly. The woman was already giving them trouble. "Look, I'm here to ask you some questions. My name is Sonic the Hedgeh—"

"I know who you are." She said crisply.

"Huh? Oh, well of course you do." Sonic said, his chest puffing up proudly despite himself. His smaller friend just rolled his eyes and stepped forward to slam a folder on the table cut in half by the bulletproof glass. Vanessa's attention was gained again. She looked down at the files curiously, eyes flitting back and forth between the printed article, the photographs of her husband, and the close up of her niece. A smile seemed to be cutting through her coldness.

"You are here about that incident?"

Something about the way the woman said it made Tails uncomfortable but he nodded anyways. "The Frost party where Stella Frost permanently disappeared? Y-yes, that's what we're here about. We think it might be able to give us a lead on a problem that we're working on right now."

Vanessa's smile grew. "You mean the Mina Mongoose Affair."

"Is that what they're calling it on television now?" Sonic questioned; all her got was a small guffaw and a nod. "Wait, how did you know what case we…"

"What else would you come here for? There's only one case that the famous Sonic the Hedgehog would be working on that connected to the annual Frost Ball." Vanessa tucked back her laughter and tapped the side of her head. "The weasel, right? The weasel and his cronies. You want to know what they have to do with this whole Mina Mongoose affair."

"You're…pretty perceptive." Tails commented.

"I knew from the second that they told me that you two were here that it was about those three. There wouldn't be any other reason for you to visit me during this sort of major dilemma." There was something about the way that she said it that made Tails shiver a bit—something just made him feel not quite right about this woman. Glancing over to Sonic, though, it seemed that his best friend didn't share his feelings. He wore a grin instead. "Let me guess: you saw the girl and you want my help to get your girl back."

"That's the gist of it. Sort of. We mostly just want to ask you a few questions. We're hoping that it'll help us know what their final destination is." Sonic supplied. "Like why they'd kidnap Mina at all, and why they have your niece with them."

Vanessa sat back in her folding chair with her hands cupped in her lap against the striped prison pajamas. Her eyes stared contemplatively at her fingers as they ran across each other. Across from her, the pair of heroes watched her expectantly; finally, from underneath lidded thick eyelashes, she looked up to them with a mysterious smile that barely was visible. Her fingers curved together across the back of each hand as she leaned forward towards them.

"I'm sure you've figured out that they have something to do with my family."

"Yes."

"And that they were at the Annual Frost Ball."

"Yes."

"And that they have my niece."

"Yes…"

"The article left a lot out, you know. It was a calamity." Vanessa said quietly, not looking at them—her face was hidden under a fringe of hair as she dipped her nose downward. Tails arched to see her face but it was in vain. "It has been quite an effort of his to get me out of the Frost family. I had been taking care of it in the absence of Stella's mother but I was foolish and let my guard down."

"You mean…Mr. Fairfield?"

"Erik, yes. Erik…" Vanessa's head did not lift but they could see her form shaking as her fingers curled tighter around each other. "He pulled the rug out from under me and betrayed me, saying I wanted to kill my niece. Such ridiculous drivel. My niece is all that I have left of my beloved sister, and yet he claimed the whole thing was a coo in order for me to gain control of the fortune…but in the end it was him who got the fortune. He got those fools to kidnap Stella and it left him our hard earned fortune when he blamed her near death encounter on me!"

"I see…" Tails said quietly; it seemed logical enough to him, and Sonic's eyes were starting to set into that determined look he only got when innocent people were hurt. "Do you think Erik has something to do with this new kidnapping? Stella seems to be a part of this new plan, so…"

"I can't help you with that. But if he is responsible…" Vanessa finally looked up. Her ice blue eyes had a glint in them previously unseen. "…then I can tell you where he WOULD take her for pickup."

"Huh?! You can?" Sonic said in shock, bolting forward to slam his hands against the table. "Tell us! We can recover her AND your niece!"

Vanessa let out a hollow laugh. "Station Square. Erik has a fairly large amount of assets there. He has a personally run stocks firm that he directs from our…his manor. It would be the perfect place for him to send a kidnapping hit without it being directly tied to him. He could just have the package picked up by one of his interns and avoid any indictment if the exchange failed."

"Alright! Perfect! We know where they're going! All we have to do now is wait to pick Mina and those stooges up!" Sonic snapped his fingers jubilantly, not noticing the dour expression of his partner. Tails looked on to Vanessa with distrust in his eyes. All of this seemed far too convenient for him. He had just been suspicious of the girl that had been travelling with Nack, and yet all the pieces of that strange girl and her family seemed to fit together so perfectly with the puzzle…

"You ready, Tails?!"

The fox sighed and stood up—maybe it was just his imagination. Maybe he was just trying to make issues when they weren't there. After all, someone who successfully made a grab for an old money fortune wouldn't be the kind of criminal to just stop there. So it was reasonable that he was committing more crimes and hiring goons that he was familiar with. Even if the look in Vanessa Frost's eyes made a shiver run down his spine, she was wholly easier to trust than the Hooligans were.

"You know…" Vanessa's voice almost seemed like a death rattle; both boys froze and turned back to the chuckling fox woman. Tails was starting to think he had been in this dark flickering room for too long. Everything was starting to seem intimidating. He shook it off as the woman leaned forward towards the glass. "There is…SOME help I can give you beyond that."

"What? Really?" Sonic dashed back to her side again. Tails shook his head—he didn't want to say that his friend was a bit gullible sometimes, but in the present of those who had been wronged, Sonic would ignore anything. The fox quickly berated himself. There was no reason he couldn't trust Vanessa Frost either. He had to remind himself that it was her word against some of the most untrustworthy bandits on Mobius. Her word was bound to be the more reliable one.

"I have a bit of a club in Station Square that I used to participate in back before Erik, well…" She cast her eyes down pitifully. "…anyhow, they're a reliable bunch. We used to read books together, we did. But they're also rather fond of….strength, if you get my drift. I'm not doubting your strength or anything, of course, but they might be able to help you take down those troublesome four."

"I appreciate it, Miss Frost, but I think I can take them. I've done it plenty of times before." Sonic snorted. Vanessa only tittered with laughter again.

"Have you run in with them recently?"

Sonic paused.

"I thought so. They outdid you, didn't they? My dear, let me tell you something, your ego is one of the most important things you can have. I pride you on the pride you have for yourself. But don't let that pride come before the innocents. Should Mina and Stella come before such concerns?" Vanessa shook her head. "My little club can provide you with backup, and on top of that, I'm sure they'd be willing to provide your little singing sensation with accommodations once you've got her back. She'll need somewhere to stay after you save her, yes?"

"Well…yeah, I hadn't thought of that…"

"They'll be able to help you. I'm sure of it. Remember, you need to think of poor little Mina before you think of anything else." Vanessa crossed her hands across her muzzle, resting her nose against the bridge of her nose. From underneath the fingers, they could still see a smug grin. "And trust me, I didn't just meander around with the hoy-palloi either. They're a wealthy organization and they can accommodate any and all of her needs, and more."

"Alright, alright. You're pretty on the nose, lady." Sonic commented.

"I always try to be."

"So how can we get to them?"

"Oh, of course. Let me just see if I can remember the phone number." Tails could've sworn that the woman's smug smile had gotten even smugger as she listed out the numerals for Sonic to scribble down. "And when you call that number…"

"I should what? Say you told me about them?"

"That, yes." She chuckled, a charming yet dark sound. "And be sure…be sure to ask for _Thaddeus_."

Tails couldn't shake the feeling that they had just been duped—all he could do was ignore it.


	11. Ragtime Reason and Rhyme

Chapter Eleven

Ragtime Reason and Rhyme

Night fell over the quiet sea as water lapped gently at the sides of the freighter ship as it cut smoothly through the minute waves. Only a few lights peppered the surface—lights to guide sailors across the deck, and the bright light shining from the Captain's quarters. The purple haired mongoose had her elbow balanced on the edge of the rails, staring listlessly out into the dark sea as the deck light flickered erratically across the rumpled sailor's blouse she had been shoved into.

After crashing and recovering in Spagonia, the Marvelous Queen had made quick time to a freighter dock on the strait that separated Efrika from Soumerca. An hour of bargaining later, the Hooligans had managed to get themselves passage across the strait. To Mina's utmost dismay, the sailors let them know early on that the trip would be an overnight one…and that they didn't have rooms to spare. All of them were taken up by the crew of the trip. It was pretty much how they had managed to bargain their way on board to begin with, but Mina couldn't help but be glum about the lack of a bed and the cold air of the sea.

Indeed, she has ended up just sitting on the deck watching the sea while sailors passing back and forth behind her. It wasn't like she could sleep in this cold. Behind her sat the Hooligans and the Marvelous Queen, its repaired frame held tight against the ship with a series of chains. Bean was already miraculously asleep in the sidecar but she could feel Bark's eyes watching her carefully. Somehow it was less intimidating with the pint sized duck in his lap. Nack seemed to be paying her fewer minds as he tinkered with one of his handguns. Tinny music played softly from the player jammed into the Marvelous Queen. Glancing back, her hair slapping against her face in the wind, Mina could see the small white fox sitting next to the weasel. She seemed interested in his work on the gun but it was obvious she was fading out.

"Um, Stella…" Mina began but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears; the only response to her was a slight flip of the girl's left ear. The mongoose turned around and strode closer to them; Bark's eyes stayed on the pop star and Nack's fingers ceased their work as he glanced up. She ignored the both of them. "Stella, you're a growing girl. It's almost midnight. I know this is all…interesting…to you, but you really should go to sleep."

"Don't wanna." The girl huffed—before she could continue she let out a loud yawn. Mina shook her head. "You're not either."

"Well…I've got a lot on my mind. We all do. But see, Bean's sleeping too." Inwardly Mina could only help but think that Bean only could fall out so easily because he never had ANYTHING on his mind. "I guess it's not my business, but…"

It was too late. Stella's head had already thudded lightly against the weasel's fur, her blue eyes sliding shut. Nack only shifted so that Bark could reach under his arms and scoop the girl up; Stella made a small moan of protest as she was tucked in next to Bean. Mina shook her head. Even after the calls to Erik Fairfield, she still found herself lost on the girl's presence with convicted felons. It wasn't like either Stella or her uncle did anything as blatantly illegal as the Hooligans did…

"Do you got somethin' to say or are you just gonna sit there staring?" Nack commented, not even bothering to look up from his weapon; he just held it up to the side and clicked the parts back into place. Mina flushed in irritation. Somehow the weasel always knew exactly the wrong thing to say—though it was unlikely he felt he was obligated to be nice to her or anyone else that he kidnapped.

A lot of insults ran through her mind at that moment, but Mina realized something: she was way too tired to deal with arguing with Nack right now. Instead she just shrugged noncommittally and dropped down into the free sidecar. Ironically that caught the weasel's attention more than anything else as he loaded up the handgun and spun the barrel into place. After it clicked shut, the only sound on the boat was the soft breathing of the sleeping pair and the tinny music from the airbike.

"So are you going to tell me what she's doing here? Now that I've met the extended family and all." Mina piped up finally. Nack rolled his eyes and shoved the gun back into its holster. "Look, you can clam up as much as you want but I'm officially involved in this whole…fiasco that you're not telling me about. So I want to know where you three stand in it too."

Mina was greeted, once again, by silence. All that could be heard was soft snores and tinny music, adjacent to lapping sound of the waves against the side of the boat, and the sounds of the sailors talking from the other side of the freighter. She would've crossed her arms and insisted further if it wasn't for the look on the weasel's face—pensive, almost thoughtful, an expression unfamiliar to his person. At least it wasn't a look she had seen on his face before.

He groaned and rested his chin against the handlebars of the Marvelous Queen. "You're not gonna shut up about it, I'm betting?"

"You could probably make good money on that bet."

"Dammit. Alright, fine. If it'll get you to shut up, then fine." Nack groaned, glancing over to Stella quickly to check if she was asleep. The fox had curled up into herself in Bark's lap, one arm hanging limply across Bean's face. "A few months back…I guess almost a year now, actually…the kid gave us a job. She offered up a diamond worth millions as payment. Jus' one job: find her parents."

"I recall her mentioning her parents are…"

"Missing. Dunno the full story. They're officially dead as far as the records are concerned, but there was suspect of foul play. We don't know jackshit about it as is." Nack lolled his head to the side with a groan. "In the end we had to bring her back to Frost Manor. Which ended up being a stupid decision, since her aunt had been planning to kill her for a long time. Kid is currently the heir to the whole Frost fortune but Vanessa wanted it for herself. I guess this cult had something to do with that."

"Fairfield mentioned a Vanessa, but…wait, she tried to kill her? Her own niece?" Mina said incredulously; Nack waved his hand at her to keep it down and she clasped fingers across her mouth. Stella just murmured in her sleep and turned a bit. "She actually tried to kill her own niece? But how did she…"

"She hired some hitmen, old frienemies of mine, to go get the kid so she could throw a party and have an 'accident' to clear any suspicion." Nack interrupted. "It probably would've worked if Stella hadn't hired us. We ended up bringing her back instead of her goons and ended up intercepting her attempt."

"You…saved her."

"Well don't put it that way, you're gonna put a blemish on my flawless record of being heartless scum." Nack laughed, but it was a bitter sound. "She's been travelling with us ever since, officially because Fairfield thinks we 'understand' her more. But based on this cult bullshit, I'm startin' to think it was less because we understand her and more because we have lots of muscle and lots of guns. I guess he was afraid that Vanessa would try to finish the job from prison."

"…Wow." Mina bunched her legs up against her chest, eyes staring back out over the sea. "I mean. Like, wow. That's…a lot to take in."

"You don't believe it? I mean, can't blame ya, I guess."

"Well, it's certainly hard to believe that you and your boys could care enough about someone to save their life. Much less a little kid." Mina mumbled, tugging at her own hair thoughtfully. Then she chuckled. "It's pretty hard to see you as anything but a jerk. But you have a soft spot for a little kid. That's definitely not what I expected."

Nack's ears had flattened against his skull now, a frown crossing his face in annoyance—but the flush across his muzzle told her that she had hit it dead on. "We're still gettin' PAID to do it, y'know."

"Nice front."

"It's not a front, I can show you the damn check stubs."

"Really, you need to show me evidence that you don't care about anyone? Stop being such a moron, jeez." Mina hid her smile in her knees, then paused. Smiling, laughing. God, she hadn't really done that genuinely in what felt like weeks. Certainly not the whole time she had been here. The last thing she had ever expected when the Hooligans had snatched her up out of Westopolis was to be on a freighter ship talking on almost friendly terms and laughing about it.

It seemed like the weasel had crossed the same thought, an unreadable expression crossing his face as he stared out to sea as well. There wasn't much to see in the dark waves, but the distant crashing sound seemed to almost go in tune with the weak sound of music emitting from the speakers by Nack's knees. Mina peeked over her own knees at the speaking as it spit out the poor quality rendition through its weak speakers—it was hard to understand the lyrics but there was a beat there.

"This is really dance music."

"What?" Nack looked confused by her change of subject—not that either of them didn't want to get away from the previous topic. "It's swing music, not dance music."

"Swing music was the original dance music." Mina stated matter-a-factly, pushing forward to fall feet first against the deck. The speakers went quiet for a moment before a new song piped out of the old player.

Nack snorted, pulling out a small metal case and swiping a cigar out of it to light up as the singer moved her hand upward to pump down on her knees with the beat of the music. Quickly, she moved back a few steps, only to slide forward in one smooth motion forward to repeat the pattern. Then, with a slight click of the heels, she jumped surprisingly high in the air with a spin to slide back. Her knees still bumped with the rhythms, hands moving back and forth weightlessly in front of her as she pushed back and forth in place.

"Amateurish."

"Let's see you do better, big shot."

"Like hell I'm playing into your game, Popcorn."

"I bet you just can't." Mina smirked, holding out a hand and gesturing forward with her fingers. Nack blew out a large cloud of smoke—it didn't mask the irritation on his face. The weasel didn't like being challenged and there wasn't anyone who had met him that didn't know that. His common sense told him not to rise to the provocations of some goody two shoe pop singer.

Unfortunately, common sense took up a fairly small amount of the bounty hunter's thought process.

His heels clicked as he slid seamlessly off the driver's seat of the airbike, confidently walking up to the mongoose. Mina froze for a few seconds; having the weasel right in front of her, cigar in hand and dark glint in eye, reminded her that she was playing with fire and that this man was a multiple count felon. But the freezer in her blood did not last long as her hand was grabbed and the light of the tobacco was thrown over the rails.

Mina had always been a professional. When she had become a star she had gotten all the assistance she needed for showmanship. Singing lessons to improve her range, guitar lessons to increase her abilities, and dancing lessons to give the audience the best show they could want. The finest of instructors was hired by her manager, and the tough and curt lemming that had taught her had passed the mongoose with flying colors and generous applause—something the teacher did reputedly give to many students.

And yet right now she felt like she was being easily led and dominated in the dance. A hand on her waist as they spun, the heel of her foot clacking as her feet rose and fell rapidly, the shadow that passed over her as Nack's hand curtly led her body to dip forward with his own. She could almost feel the wood surface of the deck against her knuckles before they pulled back upwards and his hands released from her own to turn away from her. Almost instinctively she turned as well, spinning around back to meet his grip again. The tinny music played on in the background but in the haze of movement, Mina could barely hear it anymore. She barely felt like she was controlling her own body at this point.

Exhilaration—true improvisation at her hands. Even the sweat and pounding of physical strain didn't make her want to stop dancing. In the back of her head, she could hear the faintest sounds of that song she was trying so hard to learn playing.

A small beeping sound interrupted the reverie she had fallen into.

Mina's eyes snapped to attention as her hands tore away from Nack to stare back at the Marvelous Queen. The bag in the sidecar that held the laptop was beeping furiously. The weasel shot her only a cursory glance before he ran back over to the airbike to fish the computer out of the burlap bag—Mina just stood in place, some of her long curls going somewhat astray while others stuck fervently to her muzzle.

Well, at the very least, she wasn't cold anymore…

" _Am I…is it getting through? Dammit, I hate this technology crap…_ "

Mina's ears perked up; that was Erik Fairfield's voice. But he was calling so late—whatever he had to say to Nack, it had to be important. Pretending slyness, she crept forward to poke her head behind the driver's seat to see the screen. To her surprise, the copper fox seemed somewhat disheveled—he had looked slightly tipsy before but now he just looked flat out of it.

" _Ah, hello there, Miss Minnie. It's good you're here._ " Erik said hurriedly. Nack raised a brow, leaning back in the driver seat. " _Ah, are you, um, okay? Are you in trouble or busy? You're looking rather out of it."_

"I could say the same of you." Nack commented before Mina could reply. "You look like you just got hit by a train, Fairfield."

" _Ah, well, I've been up all night. I happened upon a rather interesting collection of, um, reading materials._ " Erik rubbed one eye—it was clear he was dead tired and very out of it. " _Listen, Nack, I'll make this brief. I did some digging into the cult that Vanessa was involved in. The Frost family records had quite a few documents on them that I used to be banned from reading, but ah, see, since I'm the head of the manor currently, I, uh, you see…_ "

"Get to the point."

" _O-of course. I can read them now since I'm the manor head. I've found some very interesting reads, very interesting reads. About, you know, the cult. That cult._ " The fox didn't seem to care that he was repeating himself. " _They're an odd bunch, old friend. It took a while to get down to any documents that actually said anything but the group is called Primum Semper._ "

"Primum Semper? What the hell does that mean?"

" _I figured you'd ask that. Primum Semper is in an ancient language, it translates to 'Always First'. This cult has been around for ages. It was founded by some guy named Agoston, though most records just refer to him as 'The Exalted'._ " Erik shook his head in frustration. " _The members came from all across the board—businessmen, assassins, priests, musicians, fortune tellers…you name it then they probably had it. They only had one thing in common._ "

"And what would that be? Are we looking at some sort of Satan worship thing? Or some made up God to make the followers drink the magical kool-aid?" Nack asked, lighting up another cigar. Mina scrunched her nose at the smell and the comments. She couldn't help but feel a foreboding clutch at her heart.

" _Much worse. Primum Semper had the goal of having the kind of influence that groups like the Free Masons have, but never achieved it due to their doctrine. Their founder, Agoston, created a founder's statement that claimed that only the members of Primum Semper were worthy of free thought._ " Erik explained hurriedly. He seemed increasingly uncomfortable; Mina couldn't blame him. " _Obviously not many people liked the idea of abandoning free thought, so Primum Semper never gained the traction it desired, but they did design a formula that was supposed to give them the control they needed to force the large of society to abandon free thought and become the lowest tier of members in the cult._ "

"And what, pray tell, the hell was this 'formula' they designed?" Nack asked, taking a puff off his cigar.

" _No documents actually state what it was that they specifically needed to do. But one thing that was consistently stated was that they needed a musician to execute it, and one with a lot of influence._ "

"A superstar, you mean." Nack's eyes slid over to the mongoose peeking over the screen. "So they need a musician to execute some crazy plan. Is that what I'm getting from all of this? Is any of this plan even feasible?"

" _Since I have no idea what the actual methodology was, I have no idea if their plan was feasible or not. But they still hold the doctrine to this day, and hope to use this plan of theirs to rid non-members of free thought. Vanessa didn't seem to be in possession of any documents that explained it in more depth, just ones that stated that they needed a powerful musician._ " Erik hesitated, then focused in on the pop star sitting behind the weasel. " _I believe that it is why they want to have YOU, Miss Mina._ "

He had gotten her name right.

That couldn't bode well.

Especially since he was very likely right.

"I can't go there! Who knows what they'll try to do to me! They might even kill me!" Mina cried desperately, reaching over Nack's shoulder to grab the laptop. The weasel shrugged it off; at this point he was getting used to it. "Will they kill me?! Do they need to SACRIFICE me?!"

" _N-no, Miss Mina, there's no record of any kind of sacrifice in their cult._ "

"Aw, see, then you'll get along just fine. Just play with their failure of a plan and watch it crash and burn. It'll be funny." Nack quipped. Mina shot a sharp glare at the weasel, hands balling into fists. "So is there any connection to the missing parents thing or is that more pissing into the wind?"

" _At this time I can probably say that it was Vanessa's reason, but I don't think I can connect them outside of one document I found. It's a memo from the leader, Thaddeus, warning Vanessa that she won't be of the 'future higher class' if she doesn't succeed in securing more Frost family donations. It was sent shortly before their disappearance, but it was in code so it took a bit to decipher it. I had some professionals work on it to get the message through, but the police weren't interested in it when they performed the initial investigation._ "

"They wouldn't be." Nack snorted derisively. "Never trust a cop to do a hunter's job. This Thaddeus bastard probably has more information than he let on when I first met him. I'll corner him after I do the exchange and get Bark to punch the details out of him. I'm sure Mister Big and Mighty will be willing to spill it after a few punches to the face."

" _Alright, but be careful about that, I don't know what they plan to do with the girl. I'll talk to you all soon. Tell Stella I said hi._ "

With that, the image on the screen disappeared. Mina gaped wordlessly as Nack snapped the screen shut to tuck it back into the burlap bag. It wasn't until he had safely tucked it away and settled back into the driver's seat that she snapped back to attention, kicking the side of his bike roughly. It shook the whole bike; Bark protectively wrapped his arms around the duck and the small fox to keep them from feeling the waves. His glare wasn't enough to deter her this time, though.

"You learn ALL of that!" She shouted. "ALL of that—that they're crazy cultists, that they have some crazy plan, that they need a musician to do it—and you're STILL gonna turn me over to them?! What kind of heartless bastard ARE you?! They could kill me—hell, they could kill OTHER people! What if their stupid plan succeeds, huh? You're risking EVERYONE—"

"Unless you actually think their ass backwards plan will work out, then shut up. I have way more to gain from dropping your ass off than I do from withholding it." Nack snapped in irritation. Mina blinked tears back. "They'll make some ridiculous show of a ritual which, hey, let's remember, doesn't involve goddamn sacrifice, and it'll fail. I don't believe in that bullshit and neither should you. Then I can beat the hell out of Thaddeus and get what I need about Stella's parents. And you can go screw off to wherever you need to be once we've taken care of that."

"I'm not some sort of tool in your stupid plans! You don't know if their stupid ritual thing will fail—"

"Y'got a better idea, princess?!" Nack finally barked; Stella and Bean jerked awake. The white fox crawled over with bleary eyes to gaze at the pair in confusion. "Not everything can be nice and neat and ethical like your stupid prince charming's team of fighters for freedom! Some of us have to play against the rules and some of us have to use what we have on hand! And I hate to tell you this, but I got some bad news: YOU'RE what we got on hand! And considering the fact that you're more than likely going to get out of this without a scratch, jus' some annoyance from baby's first cult, then I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be complaining!"

"And if you're wrong?! If something DOES go wrong, and they CAN do this stupid ritual?!"

"Then we take it as it comes and deal with the results! It may be risky to do things our way, but we ain't gonna accomplish a goddamn thing without actually DOING something!" Nack shouted back. Some of the sailors were gathering to see the hullabaloo but neither party seemed to care. The Hooligans in the sidecar were watching with wide eyes and silent open mouths. "You listen to me, you little pop star wannabe. I've been playin' softball with you so far. And maybe its made you forget that we ain't friends and we ain't allies. I'm a bounty hunter and YOU are my target."

"Nack, I think—" Stella tried to interrupt the fight, sensing tempers rising and words growing harsher and harsher.

"Not right now, Stella." He said through grit teeth as he stared down the mongoose. She stood firm in her step but her frame trembled, eyes welling with tears. "Now. You. You're gonna sit down, shut up, and cooperate. I don't wanna have to restrain you or any stupid shit, so you just go with what we decide to do. There's important shit I can figure out here and I don't need your self-righteous bullshit to screw that all up. I am not Sonic, I am not Princess Sally, I am not your Freedom Fighters. I do things MY way and if you don't like it then that's just too goddamn bad."

"….You are such an asshole." Mina managed to blubber before turning heel and running through the crowd of sailors. Nack sighed and jerked his thumb in her direction; Bark got to his feet to follow after her, but not without sending a reprimanding stare in the weasel's direction. Nack just snorted as the sailors parted like the Red Sea to let Bark follow after the girl; he wasn't surprised that they were afraid of him. He looked down to his cigar burning down to the butt.

"How could you do that?"

He looked up in surprise to see Stella's steeled expression. She was glaring at him roughly—it wasn't her usual pout, with her lip stuck out and her shoulder's hunched. She was just glaring at him with a judgment in her eyes that was almost previously unknown to the young girl. Nack stared back at her in confusion, fingers holding the wrapped tobacco going limp in thinly veiled confusion.

"I'm glad you still want to help me find out about my parents. And I know Thaddeus knows something that Aunt Nessa won't say." Stella said, refusing to break eye contact with the weasel. "But I don't need anyone to make sacrifices like that because of it. I don't WANT anyone to make sacrifices because of it. Sacrifices are why my mom and dad aren't around anymore. I don't want any more people to have to be like them, and disappear away from everyone they care about. And everyone—EVERYONE—who cares about them."

With that, the small white fox jumped out of the sidecar and took off running in the direction Mina had gone. Nack watched with wide, confused eyes—then he groaned, dipping his head forward against the handlebars of the Marvelous Queen as he let the cigar butt fall out of his fingers to be smashed under his foot against the wooden deck. There was nothing he hated more than when someone put his plans in a different perspective—especially when they were the supposed benefactors.

And especially when they were completely right.

….But they couldn't turn back now.


	12. The Nature of Rats

Chapter Twelve

The Nature of Rats

Silence had prevailed over the Marvelous Queen ever since it had dismounted from the strait freighter. No one had bothered with speaking; the only thing that could be heard was the rumbling of the ancient engine. Mina was staring ahead to the city cresting the horizon with eyes lidded and face blank. Her hair fluttered erratically against the bear sitting behind her, although Bark had made no move to restrain her—the girl had gone into a near motionless, unreactive state that was getting worse as they got closer to Station Square.

From the other sidecar, the young fox girl watched the pop singer with worry in her eyes. Slowly she shifted her attention to the driver. Nack had a nasty scowl painted across his feature, his tooth jutting out visibly as his smaller fangs chewed at his lip. His hat was pulled low against his face to blow out the sun of his blue eyes, but Stella could see that they had narrowed into sharp slits. Just like they had been all morning, really…just like they all had been this morning. Even Bean was silent, watching the other Hooligans contemplatively as gloved feathers drummed impatiently against his stomach.

Stella sighed in defeat, sinking down against the metal casing. It wasn't as if she was expecting things to go well after the previous night. Even as they passed into the boundaries of town, she still couldn't get her mood up—memories of Twinkle Park and glorious battles flitted through her mind trying to cheer her up. But the past couldn't seem to trump the disappointment and scorn that was gripping at her heart so tightly. She supposed there was some grand irony in the fact that both feelings, the joy and the sorrow, were both from the same source.

She glanced back up at Nack.

He still wasn't making eye contact, of course—the small fox had long since learned that when Nack wasn't one hundred percent sure he was in the right, he would avoid eye contact and just keep doing whatever he wanted anyways. Didn't want to hear Bean joke about him being a gung-ho hothead, didn't want to look at Bark's reprimanding glares, didn't want to see the devastation on Stella's face. He simply would shut it all out at that point and go forward.

Right down the darker lanes of Station Square.

Stella looked around; her ears perked up, jerking back and forth carefully to catch the sounds around her. This place was not like the Station Square she had seen before—this place was darker, seedier, more unpleasant. It let off a subtle smell that, while it wasn't quite disgusting, was far from pleasing. Like the smell of copper, steam, and gunpowder. Looking to her side, she noticed that both Bark and Bean had perked to attention as well. They both were now steadily watching out the side of the Marvelous Queen with their eyes running across the denizens of this side street with an almost accusatory tone. Like predators guarding their kill.

"Bean." Stella started at the sound of the rough Australian accent—she hadn't heard Nack talk in hours. The bird aside her looked back at the weasel with a similarly surprised expression. "We're almost there. Be at the ready. And Bark. Guard the girl. Make sure she doesn't run or anything. I ain't got any goddamn time to chase some bratty rich girl through the backstreets of Station Square, especially when we've almost got this job done."

Mina stiffened and shot the weasel a glare; it went ignored.

"This seems like a bad place for an…organization." Stella managed. She had to try one more time, at the very least. "Really, I don't think this is a place any trustworthy type would be."

"We already know they ain't trustworthy. They wouldn't have hired us if they were." Nack grunted.

Well, so much for that. It wasn't like he was wrong.

They all let out a gasp as the bike came to a screeching halt aside the opening of what looked to be a dull yellow and very unassuming building. For this area of town, anyways. It didn't even seem occupied—the windows were covered in dirt and the sign looked like it was about to fall off its hinges. The door was riddled with old bulletholes and claw marks. Just looking at it sent shivers down Stella's spine. This place wasn't safe. Normally Nack didn't bring her to places like this, opting to leave her at the hotel and ignore her complaints at being left out.

Now she wished she hadn't said anything in the first place. A comfortable hotel room seemed far preferable to the near condemned building that Nack was dismounting the Marvelous Queen to go into. Bark and Bean seemed just as skeptical as the young fox, but they carefully fell out of the sidecar with Mina tucked carefully and protectively under the muscled arms of the polar bear. The pop singer, for her part, seemed to have been brought out of her angry reverie with her eyes darting back and forth rapidly. No doubt that she hadn't been many places like this either.

"Not to question you, O great lord of stupid deals, but y'sure this is the right place?" Bean asked casually, flinging his arms behind his head to stretch them out. "Because it looks like there hasn't been anyone near this place for years. At least not for any reason other than to shoot it up."

"Ain't no reason to shoot up something that doesn't have anything inside." Was Nack's only clipped reply as his knuckles rapped hard against the worn down wood door. Stella inched forward to stand next to Bean, peeking over the duck's should cautiously. The dynamo let out a nervous chuckle—but kept the small girl behind him none the less. They both knew that Nack had been teaching her to shoot, but she was nowhere near close enough to a point of genuine self-defense. It hadn't meant much to the girl at the time but right here and now she was wishing she had paid more attention. Grabbed one of Nack's extra pistols or SOMETHING.

As the door opened with a loud slam, a sense of dread passed through the kit that told her that it didn't matter anyways.

"Ah, Nack, my good friend. Come inside, do come instead." The large capybara towered above Nack, Bean, Mina, and Stella—he looked Bark right in the eyes with a knowing yet secretive glance. Bark tensed and automatically held the kidnapped girl back away from the man; he didn't know what this man was playing at and he didn't know the capabilities of him either. Taking chances, he knew, led to ruination. Though as a Hooligan he had only learned this through experience.

The capybara rumbled with laughter. "Your co-workers are still just as amusing as ever. And you brought you little not-daughter with you too, how charming. More importantly, though…the charge. You've recovered her. I could not be more pleased; she is even in peak condition aside from some dirt here and there. How wonderful, how very wonderful. This will make everything much easier."

Mina bristled at the comment, backing further into Bark's arm.

Nack pushed his hat up curiously, his earlier anger fading away into something akin to confusion. Thaddeus had not been anywhere near this jovial when the weasel had first met with him. If anything the capybara had seemed almost sickly and unassuming in the bar, if not a little unnerving and weird. But now he stood with a full posture and an enthusiasm that he had yet to display. If he didn't know better, the Hooligan ringleader would've chalked it up to Thaddeus finally getting what he wanted, but something seemed…off. Very off. Almost as if…

…as if the hulking beast knew something that they didn't.

"So will you be joining us?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." Nack gestured at Bark and Bean to follow him—Bark pushed Mina forward while Stella clung desperately to Bean's arm. All of the weasel's team seemed to be just as unnerved by Thaddeus's seemingly new cheer. "Uh, so about the fees, I prefer to be paid in cash…"

"Of course you do." Thaddeus chuckled darkly. Nack raised a brow and took a quick glance around the darkened room that they were entering—a crew of rats, all in robes similar to Thaddeus, stood around the group chatting to themselves. At the far end of the room was a closed door guarded by two bulkier looking members of the cult. Both guards eyed the bounty hunters carefully; one jabbed the other in the elbow and gestured at Mina while whispering from behind clawed hands. Both rats snickered.

In fact, Nack was unnerved to find that most of the eyes in the room were on him and his crew—and all the members of the cult seemed to be in on some massive joke that they weren't in on. He tried to tell himself that it was just because these cult idiots were happy to see what they needed. At the same time, the back of his mind echoed the thought that he was being a fool and these rats were just acting too strangely for his comfort. It was only the thought of the paycheck behind that door, and the possible information he could get out of Thaddeus that kept Nack's stride firm.

But it stopped short when the guarded door swung open.

"GET THEM!"

His arms were behind his back immediately, held back by the guard rats. He could hear the sounds of Bark punching one of the other cultists into the wall, an explosion going off in tandem with the polar bear's strikes, and a chilling shriek of fear from the fox kit. But Nack couldn't even think to reach for his gun; he could just stare ahead stupidly at the scene in front of him as blood rushed to his ears to pound furiously at his head.

A small circular table, the two Freedom Fighters in pursuit of them, and a woman much too familiar with him. A woman with a crooked smile, lidded eyes, and a sharp resemblance to her niece.

" _Vanessa_." He breathed, dumbfounded.

"It's good to see you again too, darling." She smiled—a false smile, clearly a charm that she had used to lure in the hedgehog and fox standing aside her in this dump. "So glad that my group was able to head you off at this meeting place of yours. Who KNOWS what could've happened to dear Miss Mitzy if we hadn't? Goodness, she could've gone to some of the craziest and least reputable folks. It's a good thing that Thaddeus knows where all the deals in this area take place…so he can intercept them and convince them of the error of their ways, of course."

 _That crooked, lying smile. Perfectly in place even as she spouts nonsense._

"What…are you doing out of jail?" He managed to cough out. She laughed as the hedgehog and the fox moved in towards him. Nack couldn't even be bothered with his weapon anymore—his mind was too busy trying to find a way that Vanessa Frost had outsmarted them this much. "How…HOW? You got…a life's sentence…"

"I'm out to help investigate a case. Being escorted by only those that the police would trust, after all." Vanessa chuckled, gesturing towards Sonic and Tails. The hedgehog nodded firmly; the fox just shot her an uneasy glance. "I told them to go find my good friends here, but my dearest group just wouldn't cooperate without me being out of jail! It would've been just a travesty to leave them without any help at all so I got some escorts so I could come…help out."

"LIAR!" Stella pushed past Nack to screech at her aunt. The older woman's eyes narrowed. "YOU'RE LYING TO THEM! DON'T…DON'T BELIEVE…!"

"Oh, my darling niece! It's so true! So true that they've been pumping such lies into your poor little head." Vanessa stood up dramatically, her face falling as one of her hands reached out to the girl. Stella stepped backwards fretfully, yanking the pistol out of Nack's gun hostler to point shakily at the woman. "Oh dear God, they've even introduced you to degeneracy! Thank god I can finally save you from them."

With a quick blue flash, the gun in Stella's hand was knocked out of her hand. She stared in blank astonishment at it but snapped back to attention as the yellow two tailed fox took her arm to pull her over to the table. With a hiss she yanked against Tails' tight grasp. But with Sonic coming up behind her, she had no choice but to go over to her aunt with contempt in her eyes. Her entire body froze up as Vanessa wrapped arms around her to pull her close.

"Cripes!" Nack turned back as he heard Bean let out a hectic shout; one of the rats had him pinned to the ground with his arms behind his back. Fury burned in Bark's eyes as he focused a punch in towards the cultist, but it was in vain—the spare members had all dogpiled onto him. The bear was pulled to the ground by the sheer amount of animals running around his large frame. Nack's ears flattened and his eyes widened as he watched his muscle and his dynamite quickly become restrained by the sheer hoards of rats that seemed to be piling out from the darkness.

Quickly he threw off one of the guards and reached for his gun.

Then his blood ran cold, remembering that Stella had taken it and the firearm was across the room now.

Nack knew even as he fumbled for his other gun that he was too late. He wasn't fast enough to draw out his weapon in time to beat what he was against. Even if he was, the sheer amount of rats would outmatch his single gun. It didn't matter though. The second gun was already on the floor, his arms already pinned behind his back by the infamous blue Freedom Fighter. It was over, over before it had even started, and his team had lost the entire gamble.

He felt his mind blurring as everything began to mix together—a grinning Vanessa holding a struggling Stella against her, Sonic yelling something about jail, Bean and Bark immobilized against the floor, Thaddeus grinning darkly at them from under his hood, and Tails hovering above Vanessa with a look of concern on his face as he exchanged glances between the woman and her niece. Everything was happening so quickly. The situation was going beyond him so quickly. He could barely understand a word that Sonic was saying to him anymore as his head screaming at him desperately to come up with an idea.

But there was nothing there.

The last thing he heard was a scream before he fell to the ground, eyesight blurring as a rat alongside Sonic punched the weasel right in the jaw. Right before his consciousness could slip away, the very last thing could see in his messy vision was a blur of purple and yellow hovering above him and speaking frantically while shaking his arm. He couldn't decipher any of it.

Not a damn thing. They had lost.

" _Nack, NO! You can't—not here—STELLA!_ "

With that, he was out.


	13. Two Steps Ahead

Chapter Thirteen

Two Steps Ahead

 _You know_ , Nack thought listlessly, _I really need to stop getting thrown in jail._

Well, thrown was a delicate term. It was more along the lines of that after his encounter with Vanessa and Sonic, he had unpleasantly woken up to the putrid stench that usually followed along with buildings full of half-washed felons. Now, this wasn't a particularly unusual occurrence, but it usually followed along with a hard bout of pure rage boiling in his stomach that would be promptly vented to his cohorts (who typically would barely pay any attention to him, if any).

But the first thing that him when he awoke behind bars was pure nausea and welting pain from a bruise developing around his eye.

 _They had screwed up._

 _For good, this time._

Hundred of miles across the world for nothing, not a single penny of payoff. Hours upon hours of listening to the popstar complain and croon songs and it had all been for nothing. Misfortunate and jail time seemed to follow any encounter he had with Mina Mongoose—maybe, the weasel thought in the back of his head, he should just stop accepting any work that involved her. It never seemed to end well, always with him in a jail cell and someone getting threatened. It certainly didn't help that he wasn't stuck with the simplicity of just sitting there waiting for their typical chance at an inevitable breakout.

Oh no. Of course not. That luxury had finally fallen to the wayside. Now he was stuck here, locked up tight in a cell and stripped of all his weapons, while god knew what was going down outside.

And God help him, Nack actually felt bad. He actually felt _responsible_.

 _That damn kid is starting to get to me...children, I swear. Nothing but a bunch of trouble waiting to happen._

Not that there was anything he could do about it anymore. Wasn't much he could do for the kid, and there wasn't much he could do about his paycheck either. The Hooligans had been bamboozled again. All he could do was grunt and lower his hat over his eyes in annoyance, lying back against the wall as his teammates cast glances at him. It wasn't like he hadn't expected it; he knew what the moralist of the group was thinking. He could practically hear Bark saying it. _It's our responsibility to go help them. We have created this mess, and endangered someone under our protection. Blah blah blah, do-gooder bullshit._

Or maybe that was the hint of guilt still nagging at the back of his skull. Nack couldn't quite tell anymore.

"Could you get my jacket?"

Nack groaned. Leave it to the bird to break the mood. He would've been thankful if Bean wasn't so annoying.

"No, Bean, I can't get your _straightjacket_. It's electroshock." When the bird just stared at him with a blank, waiting smile, Nack was overcome with the urge to smack him into next week. "If I touch it, I'll get electrocuted and so will you. Get it now, dimwit? I'm not hurtin' myself just so you can fail to get out of your cuffs. Now go sit in a corner or something."

"But we gotta go get our paycheck. There wasn't time to get it." Nack could feel a headache coming on. "We should get them to pay us in gold. Heavy, pretty, shiny gold. Hold it up to the sun and you know its real—"

"WE'RE NOT GETTING PAID, Bean. They gyped us. Vanessa screwed us over, she was behind it the whole goddamn time." Nack snapped irritably. Bark sighed lightly, turning away to look out the barred window. His smaller companion simply stared back at the weasel with a dumb smile on his face. "She took the money, she took the target, and she took the ward. We ain't got anything left and we ain't getting anything more. Welcome to the absolute rock bottom. Sit back and get comfortable because it's gonna be a long time."

"Aw, you're always like that whenever we get thrown in." Nack flicked an ear irritably; Bean ignored it, staring out the same window that Bark was gazing through. The vapid smile had not dissipated from his face. "Y'get all grumpy, and yell-y, and swear a lot, and bitch about how we really messed up this time. You'll get over it."

"It's different."

"How?"

"It just is, alright? Shut up, Bean. I don't want to talk with you." Nack snapped, barring his long fang at the bird tied up on the bench across from him. As usual it didn't threaten the dynamo in the least. Bean just nudged his way over to Bark's bench to rest his beak on the windowsill, staring out into the quickly setting sun. Across the darkening city, pricks of light were beginning to light up Station Square. In the far distance, aside the beach, long lines from spotlights sprung through the urban skyscrapers. Their purple and pink colors streaked across the clouds and buildings, as if to drag the denizens of the city into their thrall.

"You think that's where the concert is?" Nack snorted at Bean's question. "Do you think it's the mongoosy's concert?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

"Do you think that's where they're keeping Stella?"

"I don't…I don't care, Bean. Just shut up."

They fell back into an uncomfortable silence again, Bark and Bean hanging on the edge of the window staring out as Nack's eyes stayed firmly and stubbornly glued to the brick wall across from him. Occasionally the long reaching spotlights would flash through the bars to illuminate them in bright pinks or purples; the single flickering bulb above them couldn't hope to drown out the powerful colors. Yet neither Bark or Bean budged as the lights hit their eyes, staring almost morosely out towards the spectacle buried behind walls of skyscrapers and pavement.

Somehow, those fluorescent lights made the dingy cell feel more welcoming. Yet it also made that nausea surface in Nack's stomach again, his shoulders hunching in frustration as he sunk back against the wall as he watched the patterns that flashed occasionally onto the cell floor. It was a simple cement floor but every whorl and imperfection seemed to be illuminated by those lights. If he had been a more artistic man he would've considered how nice it made such an ugly surface seem—instead he just pushed his hat over his eyes again to block out the show.

A loud clang against the bars woke him from his sulking reverie, though. Bark and Bean had both jumped backwards from the window, their backs slamming against the cell bars. An electric shock ran across the duck and he fell wheezing against the polar bear, who swung the bird onto his shoulders as his fur bristled. Fists rose defensively in front of him as Nack stumbled to his feet to behold the odd sight in front of him. The sight of one of the last people he expected to see at the windowsill of the Hooligan's jail cell.

He checked everything off in his head—yellow fox, bright blue eyes, white gloves with red shoes, and a pair of distinctive white tipped tails that swung in a rapid helicopter motion behind him. Yeah, the weasel was DEFINITELY seeing Sonic's little sidekick brat, but he wasn't quite sure if he wasn't hallucinating as he watched Miles Prower float outside their window. If the weasel had his guns where they SHOULD'VE been, right in his hands, then he would've shot first and thought later. Right now he had no such option and found himself just freezing up to glare through the bars at the fox darkened by the distant spotlights.

"H-hey! Lower your fists!" Tails protested, pistoning backwards to shield himself with his shoes. "I'm not here to fight!"

"You got a funny way of showin' it, kid, what with throwin' us in here and all! If you hadn't wanted to fight then you would've stayed away from our jobs to begin with!" Nack growled, slamming his boot down on the hard wood bench next to the barred windows. A malicious chuckle rippled out when the yellow fox twitched and inched backwards nervously. "What's wrong, kiddo? You ain't SCARED of us just because your nanny goat bodyguard isn't here, are you? Does everyone's favorite hedgehog even know his little baby brat is hanging around a jail?"

"What?! N-no! Look, stop trying to pick a fight, okay?! This is serious!" Tails snapped defensively. His gloved hands grasped on the bars of the window to pull himself against the bars. "I need to talk to you three."

"I ain't got jackshit I need to talk to you about."

"It's about the cult…"

"I don't CARE."

"…and the fate of this entire city, maybe this entire PLANET…"

"You not know English, punk?"

"…and Miss Mina…"

"Oh, cry me a river. Like I give a shit about Popcorn."

"…and its about the little kid."

"…Fer God's sake. You're even more annoying than she is. How th' hell does Sonic put up with someone so talkative and obnoxious?" Nack sighed—he should've known better than to think he would just be allowed to sit by and ignore everything. But he had damn well been hoping that he could, no matter how irritable and nauseous it made him. Though now that irritable nausea was being replaced by cautious nausea…this kid, as good hearted as he was, had always been nothing short of infuriating. He was too _clever_ , that was the damn problem. Even as the weasel spoke to him, he could see a glimmer of knowing in the yellow fox's eyes as he led up to the Frost family ward that they kept guard of.

"So will you hear me out?" Tails asked hesitantly. Nack glanced over to his team; Bean had a goofy smile plastered on his beak and Bark had already huddled into a more compliant posture. If he wanted to tell the kid to back off, he certainly would have no support in the decision. The weasel groaned under his breath and gave a slight nod. "T-thanks. I know you don't trust me, and I don't trust you guys either, but something isn't RIGHT here. Something just feels, I don't know, a little off. And I was hoping that you could help me figure out what that WAS. You all acted so weird back there."

"Let me guess, your fearless leader didn't notice anything out of place whatsoever." Nack said sarcastically. The genius fox's grip on the bars tightened considerably as his lips pursed tightly—the weasel let out a cackle. "No need to get all bent outta shape, everyone knows that you and the Princess are the brains of the operation. Sonic's clever but he's a bleeding heart underneath that annoying grandstanding. Not as easy to fool as that idiot Knuckles, but not much of a feat to pull the wool over his eyes either. So lemme see if I can put the pieces together: Vanessa somehow bamboozled Sonic into letting her out by making herself out to be the victim despite being in prison."

"Well, I mean, she said she was…"

"A victim of us. The Hooligans. And it was easy to believe, weren't it? You've fought us enough to believe we'd start some kind of trouble with her." Nack sneered. Tails flushed, his hands dropping to the bottom of the bars shamefully. "I can't say I blame ya even if you're causing me more trouble than you're worth. Though you must be thrilled that you let out an attempted kiddie-killer cultist."

"Well, the last part is new on us too, tooth." Bean reminded the purple weasel. Nack simply rolled his eyes.

"'Kiddie-killer'…?" Tails said uncertainly. Nack climbed up onto the bench to make direct eye contract with the yellow fox; he had to admit, he was a little impressed that the kit didn't recoil just at meeting the more harrowed glare of a trained mercenary. Instead his glared back with big, blue, determined eyes. It seemed that this particular kid didn't get his foolhardy determination from just being around the Freedom Fighters. No, it was homegrown and individual determination.

 _Do all kids have that or something?_

 _I gotta stop letting these little brats get to me, I swear._

"We'll tell you all about it. Hell, we'll even HELP you with your stupid problem. But…" Nack pulled his glove down further onto his hand, the metal strapped onto the middle flashing against the spotlights and right into Tails' eyes. The fox winced slightly. "…we won't do it for free."

"Do you do anything for free?" Tails asked in a defeated tone.

"Not typically, no."

"Fine. How much do you want?"

"You get us out of here with our weapons in tow. And an acquittal for anything we got charged for in this miserable job. Everything goes back to square one, with all of us away from your little hero group. ALL of us." Nack stated smugly. Tails seemed to be catching his drift. "Then, MAYBE we'll help you clean up this mess that could've been avoided if you two had just butted the hell out."

"Wouldn't we still have given Mina to a cult and ruined everything?" Bean interrupted loudly.

"Shut up, Bean."

"You want your weapons? Well, I mean, I already got that part covered, Sonic and I took charge of your belongings for the good of the Freedom Fighters." Tails remarked. Nack gaped; THAT was where his lost weapons went whenever he went to jail? To THESE losers?! He could barely stand to think about it. "As for getting you out…it depends on how big and showy it can be."

Nack grinned widely, his fang glistening in the light.

"The bigger, the better."

"Then I'm gonna need some rope to tie to this window…and my plane."

The weasel's grin dissipated a bit.

Nothing could ever just be easy, could it.


	14. Gently Weeping Guitarist

Chapter Fourteen

Gently Weeping Guitarist

Mina's body felt almost as it had turned to stone sitting on the hard wooden chair backstage. Normally she could feel nothing but exhilaration when she was about to go on stage. Right now, though, all she could feel was a crushing defeat and infinite helplessness. She wasn't surrounded by her bandmates and friends, she was surrounded by a bunch of muscled up thugs in robes with her only possible friend locked in a cage next to her. The closest she came to a hospitable stagehand was the silent and sour faced makeup girl prodding at her face. Stella had buried her head in her knees so that no one would see her tears—Mina half wanted to do the same. She was two steps off from bursting into sobs herself but she could only read the lyrics on her paper with her energy draining by the second.

 _"We want you to sing a song for everyone."_

 _"Why did you need to kidnap me for this?! The publicity department takes requests and we host parties! Couldn't you just have done that?!"_

 _"No. If we didn't have you secured like this, you wouldn't cooperate."_

 _"What's so wrong with a SONG?!"_

Her fingers tightly gripped the delicate paper in front of her, wrinkles spreading across it. She wanted to just tear it up right there and then but both her and the captive in the cage would get in trouble if she did. The cultist would likely be offended if Mina destroyed something so precious to them—and the popstar knew very well that you don't want to offend the type of people who looked capable of snapping you in half like a twig. She had seen weapons earlier, too. The cult had made no secret of hiding them from her and Stella, likely to scare them.

Her glare focused in on the dark haired matriarch of the Frost family in the corner, chatting with the massive capybara. THAT terrible woman. Every awful thing she had revealed made Mina's skin crawl. It was as if Vanessa Frost had savored the disgust, fear, and horror that had reflected on her prisoner's face while revealing their intent.

 _"We are Primum Semper. We are the true thinkers, the true achievers, the true successors to the world. It's only natural that everyone should listen to us. And with your precious little voice, we can make absolute sure that no one ever dissents from our superior thoughts."_

 _"I would never help you with such a horrible goal."_

 _"You have no choice. You are in great danger, as is my little niece—I have no qualms with her having an 'accident' tonight, after all. So you will sing the song that we give you, and both its sound and lyrics will be broadcast across the entire world of Mobius. Pockets of opposition might be left afterwards but they'll be overtaken by your HUGE fanbase, Miss Mongoose."_

She grit her teeth. If there was anything that could offend her more than the fact that they were using a small child against her, it was that they were taking advantage of her fans while doing it. She was a pop star of worldwide fame and she had all of them to thank for it. Any famous singer worth their salt had that respect within them. To be used to manipulate and hurt them like this was absolutely unforgiveable. It was taking advantage of their years of dedication to her own dedication.

There were good people out in that crowd who wanted nothing more than to support her, and there were just as many good people at home about to tune into this supposed 'smash hit concert of the century' that had been announced in Station Square. Tune into Mina Mongoose's new hit song, they had announced. You'll fall in love with this fantastic new rhythm; it's sure to be a new classic for the ages. Fans new and old will be ENCHANTED by it.

She repressed a sob again.

Her music was about to hurt people.

Again.

 _"It is a song specially written and composed by Agoston Hoff, the original founder of Primum Semper. It affects the mind. It blocks out the capability to process free thought, and instead subjects the individual to the will of their superiors. For decades we were entrusted with Agoston's final melody for the day when we found a musician with enough popularity…and now we've found you. It's truly fantastic, really—we, the esteemed and higher members of Primum Semper, will be where we belong. Always First, Never Last."_

 _"That's INSANE! I won't sing this!"_

 _"I already told you that you will. Because if you don't, something far worse will happen to both you and that little girl back there. And since we can't have any direct witnesses, bad things might also happen to that crowd out there…."_

 _"…You can't be serious…"_

 _"Oh, I am very serious. And I suggest you put some serious thought into what's more important as well. Now you should get to the makeup crew—your face looks absolutely ghastly. I swear I'd replace your mediocre self with me if I had the star power to do it."_

Hands on her arm snapped Mina out of her reverie. Startled, she looked over to the white fox kit in the cage beside her. They hadn't bothered to replace the torn up, dirt caked pink coat that Stella had been wearing. It lay discarded in a corner of the cage. Now she just shivered in the sleeveless, light purple dress underneath it. But she wore a cautious smile on her face even as her ears were enveloped by a pair of massive purple headphones.

Mina gazed at them blankly.

Uncertainly.

Hatefully.

 _"I can't believe you're holding your own niece hostage. She may even hear the song! You're risking depriving her, too!"_

 _"Oh, I always intended that."_

 _"…W-what…?"_

 _"Did I stutter? I never had a chance for it before, since there was no solid plan to capture or entice a musician talented enough. But I always knew to go by my creed. It was my creed even before I found my fellows. Always First. Never Last. As soon as that child is malleable, she'll give up my fortune with no struggle. And I'll be first like I was always supposed to be."_

 _"But she's your FAMILY."_

 _"Family never stopped me from cutting the brakes on her mother's car."_

The mongoose's blood had run cold at that moment. It had finally clicked in her head that Vanessa Frost was not joking, and that she held no affinity for anyone besides herself. And because of that, Stella Frost now sat in front of Mina smiling innocently with no knowledge of what the headphones would do to her. All she knew was that Mina would be singing, and it would go into her earphones to make sure she heard the lyrics.

And her mind would immediately go to mush.

Mina swore under her breath.

She found herself wishing so dearly that Sonic hadn't fallen for Vanessa's scam. The mongoose had been cautious once she had been taken in, particularly due to Stella's behavior upon seeing the woman, but the capybara and the older fox had kept Mina close by their side and as far from the 'hero' as possible. The best she could do was shoot him a worried look and a frantic wave from across a crowd—it had probably just come off as stage fright, thought for a moment she had thought she had seen concern and realization flicker in his eyes. Only moments later he had been ambushed by Vanessa to talk loudly and jovially about his previous deeds as a Freedom Fighter.

Tails had disappeared. Maybe, she figured, that was for the best. He was a child just like Stella—neither fox deserved to be subjected to this kind of show fueled by the greed of adults. But at the same time she wished the boy could be here. At the very least he would catch onto the situation somehow. She didn't know how. Sonic's odd sidekick was an incredibly clever child in many regards and right now she needed SOMEONE to notice that she was being guided around like a prisoner rather than a guest. The cultists had passed it off as heightened security due to the kidnapping.

 _They probably even planned that…_

Unconsciously her thoughts drifted to the Hooligans, and to Nack. They had all been unceremoniously shoved into police cars while their leader yelled expletives. It had been exactly how Mina had wanted her time with them to end, and yet right now it felt incredibly hollow. Just like her, the three of them had been tricked and even if they were slimy lowlifes, it was obvious that Vanessa stood as their adversary. Hell, Nack had to be dragged unconscious to the police car thanks to a misguided attempt to shoot the fox woman—he had been tackled and disarmed with no punches held back. And it had taken a whole hoard of the cultist rats to down Bark and Bean afterwards.

It was the stupidest thought that had ever popped into her head, but right there and then, she almost wished that the Hooligans were next to her. Even Nack with his grotesque inability to not act like a jackass. They were liars, they were cheaters, and they weren't loyal to anyone outside of their little gang—but for just a fleeting moment Mina wished for their help too. For just that brief, solitary second she remembered being saved from the lagoon and watching the clear affection that the weasel was trying to pretend he didn't harbor for his younger charge. Just to see them messing up would be enough to lift a bit off her heavy heart right now.

She sighed.

 _I guess its official. I've gone completely insane. I guess I'll fit in with Primum Semper's new world order…._

"Mina."

"Hmm?" She looked up to the arctic fox's worried eyes. "Oh, Stella…what is it?"

"It's going to be fine, Miss Mina. Me 'n them, we've stopped Vanessa before. It wasn't on a grand scale like this but we've done it. And we can do it again." Stella's words were so full of sheer _trust_ that it was hard to not believe them. "I believe in them and you should too. Even if you don't like them that much, they'll come through for us. They might complain a bit about it first though."

"Nack? You even have hope in NACK…?"

"Yeah, even him. 'Specially him. He'll especially complain a lot too." Stella giggled, bringing a soft smile to Mina's face. She supposed any other day she would've been perturbed by the girl's devotion to the Hooligans, but today wasn't any other day. Today she could use some hope. Even if it was just the hope of a little girl in a group of indomitable miscreants.

She bit her lip.

Hope…frustration…

 _I told myself I wouldn't have to rely on 'hoping' for anyone again._ She thought, eyes downcast. _But here I am making lists of people to help me…_

"There's nothing wrong with a little hope now and then, y'know. Sometimes we can pull ourselves out of a hole but I'm starting to think that sometimes we need some help with that pull." Stella interrupted Mina's train of thought. The mongoose quirked an eyebrow at her words.

"Where did you hear that?"

The fox smiled broadly. "One of Nack's CDs."

 _Oh._

"You give me all this hope, even though you say you're a trollop, and when life pushes me into that hole, you take me hand and pull me right on out into our pitiful globe." Stella sung softly under her breath—the fox's voice was pitchy and untrained, but she clearly knew the lyrics by heart. Mina could only assume this was a frequent song on her trips with the Hooligans. "I say I loathe, you say we should go elope off to that world, and for five minutes I want to take that trollop hand."

"Kind of mean."

"I guess. But it gets the point across, in its own way."

Mina pushed purple strands of hair behind her cream colored muzzle, looking down at the paper clenched between her hands. A pair of the cultists rapidly approached them; Stella scooted to the back of her cage with fear in her wide blue eyes. The mongoose watched her as she felt goosebumps running across her skin. Closing her eyes, she pressed the paper against her forehead. Determination spread across her youthful features as the two rats rounded behind her. From behind them, Thaddeus emerged from the shadows to look down upon her. The make up girl stumbled away from the both of them.

 _Maybe they can help pull me out of this hole. But I refuse to not play a part._

"Are you ready for your final show, Miss Mongoose?" He rasped. A sneer was obvious on his features. Mina took a deep breath, letting her hands fall to her lap, green eyes opening to stare steadily into the beady black ones of the capybara. For a few moments they just engaged in a silent war of stars, the rats and their other captive watching warily.

"…I have one final request."

"You have no room for final requests, Miss Mongoose, remember that you are our captive." Thaddeus grunted. "Please refrain from such abstract idiocy."

"It could benefit you."

Thaddeus leaned down, eyes squinting as he tried to solidify the image of the mongoose in his visage. The hot breath from the massive capybara's snout blew Mina's bangs up against her forehead; one of her own eyes squinted at the odd scent that the beast gave off. It wasn't bad, more like it didn't smell like anything at all—like a hunter trying to find prey. Whatever was wafting off of him cancelled out scents, and left her feeling vulnerable against a far more trained enemy.

She could NOT allow it to break her.

"I was just thinking that maybe I could open the show with a different song than this." The angry snort that blew her hair back made it clear that Thaddeus wasn't pleased with the offer, and it took all of her being to retrieve her heart from her stomach and continue. "W-wait, don't j-just dump it. Hear me out first. I was just thinking that if you—WE allow some more time for people to pour into the stadium and tune in, then more people will be captivated by your lyrics. T-that's all."

"…Hrmm." Thaddeus sniffed loudly and Mina cringed back into her seat. "Hrm. Yes, I can see the benefits of what you are proposing. Do you have a song that you wish to perform first? I certainly don't care what you choose but if it is not good, it will chase people off rather than do what you are saying."

"O-of course I understand that possibility, BUT…" Mina flashed him the most phony, million-dollar smile she could conjure up. "…who would walk out on Mina Mongoose, Mobius' number one pop sensation?"

"Hrmm. Do it, then. But remember…" Beady eyes narrowed, his snout exploring across her face; Mina froze as a shiver ran across her entire body. His fingers plucked the paper out of her hands—according to what she had been told, it was the only copy they had and was considered 'sacred' in a way. "…if you try anything, then we have ways to punish you for your insubordination. I am sure that Vanessa has explained these things to you already, yes?"

"Y-yes. Trust me. There's nothing I can do." Mina casted her eyes downward to avoid another facial probing from the half blind capybara. He snorted in approval, grunted heavily as he rose to his full posture. "T-thank you. I just wanted one last performance before everything changed."

 _And maybe, just maybe, it'll buy enough time._

She squeezed Stella's hand before she rose to leave, a tight lipped smile on her face. To her surprise the fox child wore a look of astonishment—Mina couldn't quite tell why.

But then again, she also didn't see the three suited men behind them.


	15. Lone Digger

Chapter Fifteen

Lone Digger

"There they are, there they are!" Bean chattered excitedly. Nack grabbed his beak in frustration to drag him behind the curtain display while striking a slash across his neck. The dynamo went silent but a stupid smile stayed plastered on his face. Their leader gestured at Bark to take charge of his teammate; the polar bear obligated but his discomfort was palatable. All of theirs was, really—none of them were used to dressing so elaborately.

Once Tails had forcefully pulled the window off the cell, the Hooligans had to act fast. With the speedy Tornado they had managed to get over to the concert hall and land in a cove nearby the ocean side stage setup. It was still early on in their farce of an operation and Nack had to admit he was already faltering on how to go forward in it. But the clever little fox had quickly butted in with a suggestion of sneaking in as security. All they had to do was grab a few of the men patrolling the premise and take their flashy black suits and sunglasses.

And that was when problem one arose.

Bark was huge—his suit barely fit over his torso and threatened to tear in several places around his barrel chest. On the contrariwise, Bean's suit was slightly too big for him. The sleeves hung loosely off the tips of his fingers, with the dark button up jacket pooling around his waist as if it were a dress. It amused Bean but had everyone else at a pause. Nack, for his part, just missed his hat. He couldn't help pawing at those loose chunks of fur at the top of his head that wouldn't settle down. And since there wasn't anything to be done about his trademark fang, he would have to go in with it and hope the sunglasses distracted from it.

All they could do was hope that no one would notice.

They had been slinking around the back of the stage, trying as hard as possible to not get noticed. It was proving to be yet another tough task—the further they got into the stage, the less actual security there was. Most of it was replaced by hooded rats who glared savagely and brandished jagged knives. Definitely worth avoiding, and impossible to blend in with.

It had taken a bit but thankfully they had eventually made it to what seemed like the core of the stage—where Mina Mongoose and Stella Frost were being kept. He couldn't tell the specifics but just from looking, Nack had the feeling that the mongoose had gone through a couple hours of threats and extortion. A cat with a makeup kit was touching up the somber expression on the girl's face. Meanwhile, Stella sat aside her in a huge cage crying. Both were shadowed by the capybara, speaking in a low and incomprehensible voice.

These people were really desperate to bring his piss to a boil, that was for sure.

"Stella's in a cage." Nack whispered urgently into a small microphone attached to the side of his face. "Any advice, genius boy?"

" _Please stop calling me that. How thick are the bars? Are they welded onto the top and bottom?_ " Tails' voice sounded crackled and urgent; Nack couldn't help but flick his ear at the device embedded in it. " _Don't do that! You'll knock it out, or worse, you'll break it!_ "

"Shut up. Bars look fairly thick but they're not as thick as the ones as the jail we came from. I can't tell from here if they're welded on or not, but from a rough guess I'd say that they're not. I think it's a collapsible cage or something." Nack replied irately; the kid may be smart but Tails was proving himself to be an immediate pain in his ass. If it wasn't for the urgency of the situation then Nack would've thrown the kid in the ocean already.

" _Makes sense if they're travelling. If that's the case and its collapsible, then Bark should be able to take it down without a problem. If he can take Knuckles on one-on-one and survive then that thing'll be a cakewalk._ " Bark puffed his chest up proudly; the bear was fairly modest but he couldn't help a little grandstanding when complimented on his abilities. He was proud of what he could do. " _This place is swarming with cultists, though. So you can get Stella pretty easily if you collapse the cage but getting Mina and getting out will be a bit more of a challenge._ "

"We could just leave her ass here." Nack muttered.

" _No! This is a trade! I help you get Stella out, and you help me in return!_ "

"I was kidding, geez. You 'heroics' types can't ever take a freakin' joke." Nack grumbled. "All right, so what's your—hmm."

" _What?_ "

"Thaddeus left. It looks like Popcorn is going on stage." Nack watched suspiciously as the pop star grasped tightly at Stella's hands. From what little of her face that he could see, the purple haired sensation had quite a bit of concern that she was masking. The make up girl has a tight grip on the mongoose's arm as she led the girl out of sight. Nack watched quietly as Thaddeus followed suit, plodding off to more important work. Only a single rat remained at Stella's side, but he was a nasty looking bastard. Certainly not one to get by quickly.

"Maybe we could…"

" _Go around the back of the curtain and break the back of the cage?_ " Tails interrupted. " _Be careful. Don't get caught. They'll definitely call reinforcements if you do and I'm not sure just you three alone will be able to get past them. You have your weapons and everything but I really couldn't secure that much of the ammo…I think the handgun you have doesn't even have a full round in it. I have no idea about the one in your sleeve._ "

"You're so annoying." Nack huffed, not bothering to conceal his irritation at being upstaged and lectured by this stupid kid again. Or genius kid. It was hard to keep any of it straight right now. Instead he gestured at Bark to go around the back and the polar bear slipped back into the red curtains that sloped around the back stage messily. The duck followed in tow, leaving Nack alone to watch for trouble. Instinctively his fingers slid over the handgun strapped under the coattails of the suit, curling around the grip.

As Bark's hands gripped tightly at the rat, knocking him into a quiet unconscious. The bear dropped the limp body aside the makeup chair, turning to break out the bars of the cage containing the little girl; her hands were slapped over her mouth to muffle anything she might say. Nack tipped his head upwards in the meantime; music was playing. Familiar music. A tune he was used to hearing through a worn mp3 player, tinny and barely possible to hear. But a tune he had a certain fondness for anyhow. A bright spotlight shone down on center stage with the glisten of a dark purple dress outlining a yellow furred form. Light purple hair tied up into a heavy bun at the back of the singer's hair.

"Hey brother, what you thinking?

Leave that old record spinning

You feel the rhythm going?

They call it lonely digging."

" _RUN FOR IT!_ "

Nack's attention snapped to the scene behind him—a rat on the floor, Stella in Bark's arms as he tried to punch away an oncoming hoard of new rats that bit and chew at his arms and legs. The weasel's eyes widened as Bean snapped his fingers, a little bomb appearing in his hand. If a bomb went off, they were sure to attract even more attention. But it was far too late. The bomb was already airborne, landing in the crowd of terrified rats as Bark threw the fox kit at Nack as if she were some kind of fuzzy football. With a grunt he fell backwards with the girl in his arms, his free arm snapping forward in a jerking motion to pop out his sleeve gun and fire several well placed shots at the mass of cultists.

And then came the explosion, in almost perfect time with the music on stage.

It rung in Nack's ears loudly—one of Bean's more potently explosive recipes. For a moment he couldn't comprehend that Stella was screaming against his chest, or that the sleeve gun had already run out of ammo and was firing blanks, or that Tails was shouting desperate instructions in his ear. As the ringing died down in his ears he managed to comprehend the screeches that were pouring out of Stella's mouth as she grasped desperately at his suit.

"—DDEUS! WATCH OUT FOR THADDEUS!"

" _Run! Go for the light fixture ladders! They won't be able to take his size!_ "

Nack turned just in time to duck from underneath the hefty arm of the giant capybara. Under the man's enormous form, he could hear the desperate wheezing of the cult leader. Quickly he rolled underneath the upraised arm towards a metal ladder at the far end of the stage. As he pulled himself and the small child towards the stage lights, Bark and Bean had fallen into war with a seemingly endless supply of hooded rats bearing sharp jaws and sharp knifes. He couldn't be bothered to even give them a shout; the capybara had recovered surprisingly fast and was hefting himself to his feet to follow after Nack and Stella.

" _Nack if—up ther—he'll break it! He—nuts—I can't—"_

Nack grimaced as he lost the connection with Tails; it was just him and Stella now. They both looked fearfully down at the deadly drop below them, with the only thing separating them from the fall being the metal light fixture underneath them. Darkness from the front curtain shadowed them all as the entire frame creaked dangerously. The weight of the overgrown cult leader was too much for it, yet he climbed onto the fixture to follow after them. Nack pulled his gun out of its holster, pushing Stella behind him while pointing at the ladder on the other side. She crawled fearfully in the direction of the finger but shrieked loudly as Thaddeus shook the entire structure.

"Are you a goddamn idiot?!" Nack shouted over the loud music. His pistol trained on the capybara's forehead. Thaddeus didn't respond, only taking another uneven step forward. It shook the entire fixture again; the weasel took a hesitant look downwards. A hard, bright wood floor with the mongoose singing at the very edge of the stage—and if the capybara didn't knock it off, then all three of them would be joining Mina. Except they would just all be piles of blood and broken bone.

"Are you LISTENING, idiot?! Knock it off! You're gonna kill yourself too!" Nack yelled. His arm shook; he only had his gun out for show. If he shot Thaddeus and the man hit the structure they would all be done for. Stella hugged the steel frame tightly. With a slight start, he noticed that she had wound a length of rope from one of the light fixtures around her hand. He slowly crept backwards to hover aside her, panic in both their eyes.

"Knew…you'd be back…Nessa said, she said…." The capybara coughed violently. "Said ya…you needed…to be taken care of…or all the funds would be withdrawn…gotta…"

One more creak sounded from underneath them, this time loud enough to overpower the music. The unseen crowd behind the drawn front curtain had died into murmurs as the music had gone into an electro medley. Mina herself looked around in confusion. Taking a deep breath, Nack grabbed the rope from Stella and hefted the girl under his arm, closing his eyes tightly as he kicked off from the fixture.

All he could think was: _Doin' this 'right thing' bullshit is such a pain in the ass._

With that final thought, the rope bounced and snapped as the light fixture above them cracked under Thaddeus' weight. All of it came crashing down behind them as Nack tumbled across the stage to come to a stop aside a stunned yellow mongoose, watching him and Stella as they curled up in abject pain. He groaned, rubbing his arm—definitely sprained at the least. Mere moments later, another explosion sounded and the two remaining Hooligans were blasted through the wooden background. They both hit the stage face first and seemingly unconscious.

"I hate your stupid family, Stella." Nack coughed.

"I'm started to kinda hate them too." The fox child managed through winces of pain.

"Nack?! Stella?! Are you…I mean, how did…what is even…" Mina shouted through the haze of debris, pushing a lighter girder out of her way. She looked thoroughly flummoxed by all of the Hooligans coming smash down behind her in the middle of the concert. The crowd was abuzz with murmurs as she pulled the weasel and the fox to their feet. He nearly fell flat on his face again, only halted by Stella and Mina's arms wrapping around his torso and pushing him upwards.

"Yeah, it's me, I did this with the runt's help, and I don't even know what the hell this is so don't ask me." Nack managed to choke out a reply, though it was with a lopsided grimace. Neither Stella nor Mina replied, staring in horror behind him. The weasel groaned as a massive shadow fell over the three of them and gasped emitted from the watching crowd. "You're gotta be kidding me. You gotta be immortal. There's no way someone could live through that."

Thaddeus merely grunted, licking away stream of blood that was trekking its way down his creased skin. The capybara was covered in cuts, bruises, and what looked to be open wounds from the fall—and yet somehow he had survived. Nack could only assume that his stupid cult encouraged deadly levels of dedication because nothing short of magic could've kept Thaddeus alive after that.

And, he realized, he was the only conscious one ready to fight.

So of course his shooting arm couldn't be convinced to move.

Definitely sprained; the weasel made a weak effort to punch the capybara with his uninjured arm, knowing full well that if Thaddeus could survive that fall than there was nothing his punches could do against the monster of a man. He was surprised to find himself pulled back by Stella and Mina, the latter who had a fierce and vigorous look on her face.

"Hey, Thaddeus? Remember when I said there was nothing I could do?" Mina asked, upper body dipping forward as a mocking smile appear across her features. The capybara only wheezed in return. In a flash of yellow light, so fast that neither Nack nor Stella caught it, the popstar curled into herself and launched upwards into Thaddeus, bouncing off his injured face and toppling the massive beast. With a clack Mina landed on her heels in front of him, delicately reaching into his robes to withdraw the paper she had been given to recite. An unsteady hand rose to try and stop her.

But in a flash it was ripped into pieces, a smug smile in his direction.

"I lied."


	16. Epilogue

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

It had only been a single day and yet it felt like they had all passed out and slept for a full year. After the fiasco in Station Square, no one could blame them, though plenty of people had a lot of questions. Even the people involved had a lot of questions. The first thing that the Hooligans and Mina Mongoose had done upon awaking was sit around Nack's hospital bed, piecing each of their story parts together. It was bizarre, sitting down with her kidnappers in such a friendly way. Then again, the entire incident—being dubbed the Mina Mongoose Affair by the news stations—had been a bizarre event for them all.

And it was only so long before Sonic and Tails showed up with questions of their own, interrupting their strange reverie.

"Tails has caught me a bit up on some of the facts of the case." Sonic stated; the fox behind him waved, face a bit red in embarrassment. "And on, er, my mistake."

"Anyone could've made that mistake, Sonic, don't apologize. The important thing is that it turned out alright." Mina said comfortingly, rising up to stand aside her Freedom Fighter friends. Nack snorted but didn't bother to argue. He was foolhardy but even the weasel knew that it was unlikely to do him any good to raise any qualms with the blue hedgehog right now. Not with his arm in a sling and his body covered in bruises and patched up cuts.

"Yeah. I, eh…" Sonic turned to the three outlaws sitting idly around the hospital bed, an unreadable expression on his face as he scratched the side of his head. The hedgehog looked down for a moment, then the side, then back to them with a bitten lip. "Can't believe I'm saying this…"

"If it's a soppy thank you speech, I'd kinda rather you not anyways." Nack said dryly. "I got a reputation to uphold and some doctors might say I'm allergic to thank yous that don't come with a stack of cash. Save it for the little bastard over there, he's the one who busted us from the joint to do any of it in the first place."

"Yeah, I heard about that…" Sonic fixed Tails with his best reprimanding glare—it was ineffective, as the fox simply gave his teammate a nervous shrug and a helpless smile. It was fairly difficult for Sonic to stay angry with the young fox boy; sometimes, Nack almost had the faintest idea that the brat's more rebellious and risky nature came from hanging out with the blue hedgehog. He supposed the pain in the ass 'hero' saw himself in the kid…or at the very least, a responsibility over Tails.

Nack's ears twitched slightly.

A responsibility…

"I have a question." He interrupted Mina and Sonic's chit chat; they looked at him curiously. "Where IS Stella? You took her after Thaddeus and Vanessa were taken into custody. So where is she, hotshot?"

To the weasel's surprise, Sonic let out a loud laugh. Behind him, Tails' ears flopped downwards and a look of sheer irritation crossed his young features. Nack exchanged a glance with his two teammates and then locked eyes with Mina. She shrugged hopelessly, mouthing that she didn't know. She had gone straight to the hospital with Nack, Bean, and Bark to be checked for non-existent injuries—the capybara had not allowed a single injury to come to his star player. But she had also not seen Stella either, who had been taken aside to Sonic as the Hooligans had been loaded up in ambulances. At the time Nack couldn't protest, since it was at least better than the young vixen being in the care of the cultists.

Right now, with the hedgehog's loud laughter echoing off the walls, he wasn't sure if that had been a great idea or a terrible one.

"That kid is a firecracker, I have to say. She's been asking about all of you guys non-stop. But don't worry, she's fine. We really shouldn't give her back to you, honestly…" Sonic cast a glance over the bedridden criminals. "…but Tails told me about the deal that you all made with him. ALL of you free to go if you helped, and…well, it drives me nuts and if it were up to me you wouldn't get it. But I think that little girl would kick more people in the shin if it WASN'T honored."

"Hopefully YOUR shin next time." Tails muttered morosely.

"Aw, buddy, just kick her back."

"I can't kick a girl!"

"You can if she can kick hard."

"That's not…!" Tails' fur stood on end, but he quickly calmed himself. "She's waiting outside of the hospital for you guys. When you're ready to go, she is too. But we DID contact her guardian first to make sure she wasn't kidnapped too."

"He gave Tails quite a talking to, too." Sonic snickered. The fox seemed to practically wilt on the spot.

"Yeah, everyone in that family seems to love giving me a piece of their mind. The further from that girl I am, the better, I swear." Tails muttered. "I do her and her friends a favor and she repays me by kicking me in the shin, then I get lectured by that guy from the Frost Manor…geez."

"Yeah, she's bad with strangers." Nack chuckled.

"She could've at least said thank you."

"I'll have her send you a letter express mail. Glitter and all. Will that shut you up?" Nack grinned; Tails grimaced. "Aw, come on, kid, you're too easy. You're a pain in my butt but for what it's worth, ya did help me out this time. Thanks or whatever."

"I guess we'll all just have to settle it next time we meet." Sonic joked, but the weasel could see the glint in the hedgehog's eyes. The Hooligans and the Freedom Fighters were very rarely on the same side and at the end of the day they both always knew that they'd meet again on bad circumstances. For once seeing that victorious glint in his opponent's eye didn't irritate Nack—it was almost quaint seeing that no matter how much changed, these two hero-types would never change.

"I guess we didn't see anything here, did we, Sonic?"

"Eh, well, maybe we didn't for the next few days." The hedgehog whistled in return, turned his back to them. Tails followed on his heels, casting a small glance back at the four people behind him.

Hero-types.

Never changed, never stopped being pains in the butt.

They sure had a way of lighting up a room, he had to admit that. With their awkward apologies and thank yous out of the way, the room had drifted back into uncomfortable silence. Only Bean's babbling to himself (masked as 'conversation' with Bark) broke up the quiet of the afternoon hospital room. The melodic sounds of birdsong could be heard in far distance, as could the rumble of city life far below them. Nack found himself staring at the off white wall, making purposely pointless observations about the texture and color. It was a hell of a lot better than focusing on the pop star that hadn't left with her friends.

"Hey, ain't you going with Sonic?"

Nack groaned. Leave it to Bean to have no tact.

Mina didn't reply at first, her light green eyes staring out the window at the silhouettes of skyscrapers against the bright afternoon sky. One finger loosely and absentmindedly played with a lock of purple hair hanging limply by her cream colored fur. She had not yet had an opportunity to change out of the tight black dress for the concert; her free hand was gripping nervously at the around pinched fabric as the woman stumbled for a thought.

"Ah, well, soon, for sure." Mina blathered. "I-I mean, I just…I wanted to say, first, I mean, before…I mean…oh, this isn't easy."

"I ain't paying you no hurt feelings fee, if that's what's going on here, Popcorn." Nack snapped out thoughtlessly; the glare that fixed on him almost made him regret it as the pop star stomped her foot abrasively.

"That's not what I'm trying to say, you absolute nitwit!" She snapped, cheeks flushing in irritation and embarrassment. Her form loosened slightly, arm rubbing carefully against her shoulder. "What I mean to say is…thank you. You didn't need to come back but you did. You could've just taken Stella and split…I mean, I know Tails had a deal with you but it would've been easy to just forget about me and dump it all. Or even just run away and forget about it for good. But you didn't, so…thanks."

Absolute, deafening silence overtook the room as Nack stared at the popstar as if she was from outer space. Her form stiffened, cheeked puffing up at the disbelieving stare. "It doesn't mean I'm forgiving you for kidnapping me, though! This whole thing could've been avoided if you hadn't of done that in the first place. But you did save me, and, I mean…all of you kind of gave me a bit of hope in a bad situation."

"She's off her nutter." Bean commented. Bark smacked the bird on the back of the head; he just bounced back up giggling unintelligibly.

"This your way of saying we're even, Popstar?" Nack asked with a slight grin. She crossed her arms with a huff.

"On a bigger scale? No way. But for this case….? Yeah, I guess I'll strike it off your record. For NOW."

With that, she turned on her heels to march pridefully out of the room. It masked a slight smile on her face, and allowed her to not catch the amused looks that were plastered onto the faces of each and every Hooligan in that hospital room. In a way, Mina Mongoose couldn't help but feel like she had almost—KINDA—learned something from the experience. The Hooligans had little morals but they weren't pure evil, not like Eggman was.

It was weird, she thought as she caught the small white fox kit in a hug on the way out of the hospital. Almost as if she was experiencing the feeling of enjoying the presence of people who weren't quite good but definitely weren't absolute evil. As long as she kept her head then she could stand both aside and against them. And right now, after everything that had happened, she damn well knew she had the wear-with-all to do whatever she wanted and go wherever her heart took her.

She cast one final glance at the hospital as she finally strutted back onto the streets, knowing that if the Hooligans were ready for the future than she was too.


End file.
